Kevin Swierkosz-Lenart

Masquerade

Composing for solo flute is a challenge. The only way to come out victorious is to turn limitations into possibilities, to leave to the listener's imagination what the sound cannot return, to play on the strengths-and there are many-of the instrument to which the score is destined. The flute, so archaic and close to human vocality, lends itself perfectly to music that alludes to theatrical aspects. So I decided to take up the request of the talented Italian flutist Michela Podera, and compose a short piece for her, all centered on recitative-flavored etchings, sometimes whispered and sometimes declaimed in a stentorian manner. The immediate source of inspiration was a painting by the Neapolitan painter Vincenzo Laricchia, to whom I owe the poetic mood and title of this work of mine: Masquerade.