Across the C's for Mixed Flute Quintet

This is an appealing and approachable descriptive work for mixed flute quintet—piccolo, two C flutes, alto and bass—which is around six minutes long, in one continuous movement with six distinct sections. It’s a good quality edition, clearly printed and with manageable page turns. Commissioned by the Norwegian quintet 5 på Tvers (or 5 Across), it was premiered at the NFA Convention in Washington DC in 2015.

As the title implies, this is a programmatic piece depicting the various moods of the sea. It begins slowly with unpitched wind sounds on flute 2, alto and bass, with piccolo and flute 1 on a wave-like melody. This is taken up by the bass flute with fast arpeggios and develops into a skittish Allegro. The piccolo then starts a lively dance with the melody mainly in the alto flute, but with plenty of movement in each part. This leads us back to a faster version of the opening theme, with piccolo and flute 1 sharing the melody line, and the piece ends with an Andantino reference to the opening, complete with bass wave arpeggio figures, and draws to a close with tutti unpitched wind sounds.

The Mid Sussex BFS ensemble were working towards performing this work pre-Covid, with attractive melodies and sensitive instrumentation, giving all parts plenty of interest. It is very audience friendly and works well for advanced amateur and school flute ensembles, as well as professional groups.