Verbesselt, A :: Drie Monologen

August Verbesselt's Three Monologues for flute alone, like much of his music, lies somewhere in between Bartok and Muczynski. His experimentations with dodecaphony and atonality, like Bartok, were directed towards making strange and different types of music appealing - and Verbesselt was intent on making music that was comprehensible to audiences.

The deeper influences of Bartok can be heard clearly in the recitativ and night music of the second Monologue, written in near-free time. The first and third Monologues, however, hold more resemblance to Muczynski's Three Preludes - more aggressive, more Flemish, but with a rhythmic vitality that transforms less traditional ideas into intriguing, appealing patterns and dances. The high level of playing required also matches Muczynski's Preludes, and allows the Monologues to easily hold their own in recital or competition.

For advanced players.

Metropolis Music presents August Verbesselt's Drie Monologen (or Three Monologues) as part of the Belgian Repertoire Series. This new repertoire series (ranging from solo repertoire to chamber works) draws from the best of the old Metropolis catalogue. Notably, this repertoire series includes a large number of compositions written as required works for conservatories throughout Europe. Though most musicians are more familiar with the concours titles from the Conservatoire de Paris, these works written for the Belgian schools are as complex - and as musically intriguing - as their Parisian counterparts and range from simple sight-reading solo works to rich, multi-layered quintets and concertos.