Jinju

I met flautist, Laura Larson between acts of " Der Fliegende Holländer" at the Michigan Opera Theatre and was thrilled to get her CD, "Jinju" the following Christmas. She and her accompanists range the centuries from 1610 to 1988, the high pure notes of the flute scattered like clear drops of water between a harp's glissandi, a piano's agitated ascent and descent. It is an exhilarating experience.Ms. Larson commissioned three of the works on this album: "Jinju," "Autumn Fantasy," and "Detours."According to its composer, Ichiro Higo, "The meaning of 'Jinju' is generally 'magic spell' or 'incantation.' In ancient Japan, musical instruments were used for incantation and not for music. The image of a beautiful maiden (Shaman) playing the flute...she looks like a mysterious magician being surrounded by spiritual blue death-fire, expressing her sense of longing and wishing for her life to fade into nothingness."If 'Jinju' represents the wild, Dionysian incantations of our fire-lit past, the andante and allegro from CPE Bach's "Sonata in d minor" tread the precise Apollonian measures of our Age of Enlightenment. This album is filled with extreme contrasts, sometimes on the same track. One of my favorite compositions, "Baroque and Blue" (1973): Claude Bolling's "Suite for Flute & Jazz Piano" is a delightful combination of the baroque and modern, mixed together like competing bands in a Carnival parade. This album certainly extended my vision of how a flute can sound in all of its varied moods.