Bouquet: An Open-Ended Sonata for Flute and Piano

In 2019, flutist Catherine Boyack led a consortium commission for a new collection of miniatures for flute and piano, each themed on one of her favorite flowers. The collection is called Bouquet and, as of this printing, contains three flower-movements: “Queen of the Night Tulip,” “Indian Paintbrush,” and “Mountain Bluebells.” “Queen of the Night Tulip” is a deep violet, nearly black, heirloom tulip. And yes, this movement naturally, irresistibly plays with quotations from the “Der Hölle Rache” aria from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. “Indian Paintbrush” is a delicate desert flower with a sturdy stem, common in the Western U.S. Here, three flowers meet the sun as is rises over the stark, ruddy, landscape. “Mountain Bluebells” are clusters of tiny, down-turned blue-violet flowers on thick green shrubs. Looking closely, the Bluebells themselves may move rapidly in the wind. Stepping a few paces back, the motion of the individual flowers is lost in the rustling blur of the whole bush itself. H