Composed by Christopher Healey
Flute: Brijette Tubb

Note: Brijette only had about a week to learn all 12 pages of the piece. She was also recovering from the flu! She did a great job with short notice and a challenging piece! Thanks Brij :)


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Springtime Dances, Winter Weeps (Solo Flute)

Miniature 6

Miniature 4

Miniature 3

Miniature 1

Miniature 5

Miniature 2

Birches

Birches was written several years ago and was one of the very first works I wrote after starting my Bachelor of Music degree. The work is very much inspired by the poem by Robert Frost of the same name. The first few lines begin as follows:
  
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.  

If you haven’t read the poem before, I recommend it. The imagery and the themes of youth, spirituality, natural world and the human imagination, make it beautiful in Frosts unique, controlled and metaphorical style of writing.  In particular, the crystalline imagery of vast snowfields and bent Birches really spoke to me musically. The opening lines capture this, as well as a sense of fragility that I find runs through Frost’s poem.  A few other lines worth mentioning here are:

 I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.

The work’s structure reflects this journey, moving from the snowy ground, up, up, towards the heavens, only to fall back to earth.

Performed by Brijette Tubb

Birches for Solo Flute


Springtime Dances, Winter Weeps


When confronted with the need for more music to fill a rapidly approaching concert program, I contacted flutist Brijette Tubb to see if she would be willing to learn something on short notice. She very kindly agreed - and I very frantically got to composing, as the music had not yet been written.

Four days later 'Springtime Dance, Winter Weeps' was affixed with a double bar line and sent to Brijette for her appraisal. Along with the music I sent her a profuse apology about the difficulty of the music, as much of my music ends up far more virtuosic in nature than I intend when starting out - and this piece was no exception.

To my great delight, excitement and amazement she was completely and utterly undeterred. The performance, just two weeks later, was a tremendous success.
 Springtime Dances, Winter Weeps is a work of contracts with two starkly different musical feels; it captures the bleakness of winter and the feverish play of spring. It is a virtuosic work that is a great contribution to the flute’s solo repertoire, and one which can be at home in a wide variety of concert programs.

Performed by Brijette Tubb (Flute)
Recorded by Chris Healey

Springtime Dances, Winter Weeps

Storm Of The Sea Of Galilee

Three Caricatures for Two Pianos.

Premiered at the Australian Piano Duo Festival 2016 by Stewart Kelly and Adam McMillan.

http://pianoduofest.org

[Recorded by Chris Healey with his Zoom Q6]

MW

Chris Healey - Composer