Recent articles...

"The girls are back in town"  from the Scotsman.... READ MORE HERE or GO TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

"a brand new work is about to be premiered by the Scottish Flute Trio (SFT) at the north-east of Scotland’s very own contemporary music festival, Sound."

“the prime minister’s arts adviser declared contemporary music concerts were too long and boring and accused composers of being “elitist and arrogant” In just 75 minutes the Scottish Flute Trio proved him wrong on all counts.”

The Scotsman

"Everything the three girl group played yesterday was original, and what they revealed were the beguiling sonorities and combinations that can result from three flutes"

Michael Tumelty

"A slick and polished performance. What impressed most was the diverse colours and textures the flautists produced and the quality of the commissions"

Classical Music Magazine

"These three women may not be showy but they still like their theatre.......Like the most exciting contemporary string quartets, but uniquely in Britain for this brand of ensemble, the Trio are concerned with developing the repertoire"

Keith Bruce, The Herald

"The notion of music designed to suit, or fit, an architectural space is not a new one. Fifty years ago, Xenakis brought the concept to a new level of realisation, with architectural principals actually dictating musical structure.

Centuries ago, composers explored similar compatibilities in St Mark’s in Venice. As recently as this week, John Eliot Gardiner, in developing his great Montiverdi Choir in three different locations of St Mary’s Church in Haddington, was exploring, in a more rudimentary fashion, the acoustic potential of using different spaces for music.

None the less, it is the case that since the inception of public concerts, music has become more or less a directional art form, with the audience fixed in one spot, and the performers in another.

The science-cum-artform of marrying space and music has taken a decisive shift over the past week with the unveiling of cylinderclouds, a sonic installation from Mexican composer Javier Alvarez by the innovative Scottish Flute Trio, and designed specifically for spacial performance in the spectacularly varied spaces of Glasgow’s Lighthouse.

The music is multi-dimentional, permeates every nook and cranny of the building, and employs electronics and a full range of flutes, amplified and unplugged, in static and mobile performance. Three CDs play on different levels of the Lighthouse. All, apparently electronic sounds are sampled from flutes, and treated to sound like raindrops or thunderous bass guitar.

The three girls of the Scottish Flute Trio add their own layers of live music, from pointillistic and percussive sounds, to snatches of languid melody and the shrillest shrieks.

As an audience member, you are peripatetic - there is nothing so bizarre as stalking one flute player up an escalator, while moving from one musical field into another, to discover that you are being followed up the same escalator by another flute player. Scary.

What is so significant about the piece is that it is - as near as can be imagined (Xenakis apart perhaps) - a genuine installation in sound, adaptable to other environments, and rich in potential for development.

Apparently those in charge of Stirling’s Tolbooth are looking at the piece - in that fascinating building it could be spectacular. Curators of other interesting buildings should enquire."

Michael Tumelty, The Herald