On Sunday I was surprised and delighted by a most unusual flute duet. It was a discreet, unadvertised venue, in the intimate loft setting of the Spring Street art studio in Soho.
The flute, made of fine wood (and some metal) is a modern replica of the C. Delusse Baroque Bass Flute, crafted by Peter Noy. But it wouldn’t have seen the light of day if Andrew Bolotowsky had not ordered it five years ago… that’s how long it took for this neo-Baroque creation to emerge – a bass flute with a really wide range, and one that matches both male and female vocal ranges.
The sound, as played by the best flautist I know, was a surprise: a soft, whispering tone, almost oriental in color. The mysterious quality of this instrument is almost indescribable. It is like the design break-through of the muted color. It is a technical challenge to play this particular flute, as for instance having to play a C note as a C sharp, but the result was fresh and exciting, through a series of tunes by Purcell, Vivaldi, Couperin and others, arranged either for solo flute or flute and soprano – with the lyric voice of Mary Hurlbut, whose personal style combines the no-vibrato, clean, early music sound a la Sequentia, with full-blow operatic emotionality in other sections, making the Baroque material very exciting.
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