• Piece #1
• Piece #3
• Piece #12

The second volume of flute duets is labeled as moderate. This 8 ½ x11 book is 40 pages and features 14 pieces in a variety of styles. All of the duets are in a contemporary vein and showcase such styles as neoclassicism and free atonality. Typically the rhythms and ensemble work between the two instruments present the foremost challenges. As a result, most of the book will be too difficult for beginning and intermediate students.

Some commonalties between all the pieces in this book are frequent meter changes and the presence of traditional techniques such as imitation and motivic development. The use of compound meter is frequent as such time signatures naturally lend themselves to imitative counterpoint. All of the duets feature some use of traditional formal structure (i.e.. ABA). All duets feature no key signature (except for one) and no special effects are used

These links lead to some sample pages and sound clips from the first volume:

• Piece #1
• Piece #4
• Piece #6

The third volume of flute duets is labeled as difficult. This 8 ½ x11 book is 42 pages and features 13 pieces in sometimes widely contrasting styles. All of the duets are contemporary, and can be humorous, demented, and sarcastic. One such example is the arrangement of the Meow Mix theme song in the fourth duet (I have included a sound clip for this piece). The difficulties present in these works are due to aggressive tempos, difficult rhythms and challenging finger combinations. Melodic lines are frequently broken up between the two instruments. While this creates challenges in continuity, it serves to exploit the contrasting nature of each individual flute player.

Because of their difficulty, I would not recommend this book for players who are not advanced. It was my intention with this book to provide the professional player or university/college student with material to practice and showcase at performances. While different in many respects from the first book, I still use frequent meter changes, and some use of traditional formal structure. All of the duets in this volume feature no key signature and only one of the pieces features special effects.

These links lead to some sample pages and sound clips from the second volume:

• Piece #3
• Piece #8

These are not your old professor’s twelve-tone pieces! The aim of Discourse for Two Flutes – Volume 3 is to provide players with serial duets that are enjoyable both to play and study. For this reason, only one matrix is used for all ten pieces. This 8 ½ x 11 book is 26 pages and includes notes, the relevant matrix (with explanation of use) and a complete analysis for each of the ten duets. As such, this volume is a useful resource. The pieces are arranged in progressive order.

The arrangement of materials in these works differs from a traditional serial work. The inclusion of diagonal rows, non-row pitches and small chords extracted from a wide variety of rows create a colorful and unique environment. Some of the duets are very tender, while others are playful or even machinelike. As in the other three volumes, imitation and counterpoint are essential techniques used throughout these compositions.

I believe that no music or musical technique ever becomes outmoded. It was my intention to use serial techniques as a medium for neoteric expression and musical enjoyment. Revealing my composing secrets through the analysis of these works was an exciting processes for me, and hopefully you.

Volume 3 was completed in December of 2003 (The most recent of the four book series). Despite being the smallest of the four volumes, this work was the most painstaking. It was put to print nearly one year after I began the Discourse for Two Flutes project.

- Chris Ludwig

The flute duets were recorded by myself and XiangQun Shao in 2003.