Underneath all of its silk-toned finery, there lurks an indigenous quality in the flute reminiscent of its ancient, woody ancestors -- lute, recorder, and pan-flute. When I was commissioned in 2000 by Young Concert Artists to create a recital work for flutist Mimi Stillman, I immediately began to fantasize about a piece with some kind of primordial flavor. After taking note of her special gifts, I settled on a continuous, four-movement form that would seamlessly present her wide variety of playing in a unified fashion. The Aristotelian categories of matter - Earth, Water, Air, Fire - attracted because of their suggestive possibilities, while providing a blank slate regarding overall form.
Like the elements, the movements are distinct yet inextricably related, beginning with dusty bent notes low on the flute; moving through a quivering, bubbly world into a crystallized and airy one; and culminating, finally, in a fiery showdown. While thematic relationships join Earth with Air and Water with Fire, the textural world constantly metamorphasizes from one element to the next, ending with abrupt juxtapositions of these various timbres in the work's final moments.