Lumen

The present recording compiles nine works for and with flutes of various sorts, six solos, one solo with optional live electronics and two duos (violin and harpsichord, respectively), and they showcase aspects of the composer's thinking from 2006-15. Similarities and disparities are at play within these nine scores, but the overall tendency towards slowness and dynamics finely distinguished among the quieter ends of the spectrum prevails in each piece, as does a tempo that seldom if ever fluctuates. This basic, and by nature somewhat simplistic recapitulation works only as a means of placing the heritage to which Daniele Venturi clearly aligns himself, the flute as a timeless yet modern instrument, indeed a timelessly modern one, more a source of careful and thorough exploration than a harbinger of pastoral melody.