Griffin, F :: Blackheath

In the Blue Mountains National Park in New South Wales, Australia, is the town of Blackheath, a gateway to wonderful scenery and bushwalking. It is the home of Michael Scott, my last and esteemed flute teacher in the late 1970s at Sydney Conservatorium. After meeting at a concert in 2019, he asked me if I would consider writing a solo flute piece for him. I chose an idiom reminiscent of the music I had learned with Michael, the early to mid twentieth century French repertoire that is the bread and butter of so many flute players.

Written in three movements, Griffin provides a setting, as if in a script, on the imagery behind each movement: 

Horseshoe Falls - A thin stream falls from the shear cliff edge, and is blown into wisps during its long fall to the valley floor. 

Blue Gum Forest - Immensely tall ancient blue gums fill the valley, it is still, but not quiet, with the voices of birds echoing between the trees. 

Govett's Leap - Another waterfall and spectacular lookout, the word 'Leap' refers to the stream. However, there is a legend that in the pioneering days of Australia, an escaped convict named Govett evaded capture by plunging with his horse off the cliff.