INOX

solo flute

3’

September 2023

written for Wessel Flutes

“The composer side of the equation was also brought to the fore, through the premiere of a new work by Imogen Davey, commissioned to commemorate the launch of the new Wessel flute. Davey is already making a name for herself as both a flute player and composer, and this piece is another demonstration of her creative imagination and distinctive compositional voice. Called Inox (another name for stainless steel), the work takes both Berio’s Sequenza and Varèse’s Density 21.5 as its inspiration. Davey has taken 40 of the flute’s pitches (the chromatic scale from low B to high D) and combined them with 40 techniques, using random number generation to determine the pairings and the order of events. The combination of digital processes and creativity seems to match the Wessel production approach very well, and the piece is a wonderful showpiece of colours and sonorities. Davey’s performance was superbly controlled (including some impressive vocal sounds and whistle tones) and it was great to hear the new flute in the hands of a young performer who was able to use it for so much expression and flair.”

- Carla Rees for PAN, Journal of the British Flute Society

Read the full article here.