Some flute repertoire
My grateful thanks to Alicia Higgs and Jennifer George for many useful additions
There is a big diversity of styles, difficulty, and probably quality here: I've tried to indicate something of this (in my opinion) in the comments at least for some pieces. Hopefully they all have something going for them. I have played most of them at some time or other, some on the flute as well as the piano, but can remember more about some than others.
| All pieces on the list | Solo flute only | Flute and piano only |
= approximate timing in minutes (')
Pieces are for flute and piano unless marked:
* = solo flute
! =
instrumentation other than flute/piano
Alphabetical contents (composer's surname):
.A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H.I.J.K.L.M.N.P.Q.R.S.T.U.V.W
Malcolm Arnold - Concerto for flute and strings, op. 45. Date of composition: 1954. Published by: Paterson's publications limited.
Malcolm Arnold - Flute concerto no. 2, op. 111. Published by: Faber. Date of copyright: 1978.
Malcolm Arnold - Sonatina for flute and piano. Published by: Lengnick. Date of copyright: 1948. Light in style, fairly easy; nicely written.
* Malcolm Arnold - Fantasy for solo flute.
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J. S. Bach - Flute sonatas. Published by: various - Henle is pretty good. Cornerstone of the repertoire: widely regarded as great pieces.
J. S. Bach - Suite in B minor. Published by: various. Core repertoire.
* J. S. Bach - Partita in A minor, for solo flute. Core repertoire.
C. P. E. Bach - Flute sonata in G major. [A.k.a. Hamburger Sonata]. Published by: Schott. Core repertoire.
C. P. E. Bach - Flute sonata in E minor. Published by: Bärenreiter, et. al.
* C. P. E. Bach - Sonata in A minor, for solo flute. Published by: Bärenreiter, et. al. Core repertoire.
! W. F. Bach - Duetto, for two flutes (unaccompanied).
Bela Barkok arr. Paul Arma - Suite paysenne hungroise. Published by: Universal.
René-Emmanuel Baton - Passacaille, op. 35. Date of composition: 1924. Published by: Duran. This composer is often known simply as "Rhené-Baton"!
* Richard Rodney Bennett - Sonatina for solo flute. Published by: Universal.
Lennox Berkeley - Sonatina for recorder and piano. Published by: Schott. Date of copyright: 1940. Subtle and pretty. Originally for recorder an piano, but core flute repertoire.
Lennox Berkeley - Sonata for flute and piano. Published by: Chester. More substantial than the Sonatina, and in a more modern idiom.
Howard Blake - Flute concerto.
Boehm - Sonata.
Boehm - Grand Polonaise in D.
Mel Bonis - Sonata.
Françoise Borne - Fantasie Brillante on themes from Bizet's Carmen. Quite long considering its rôle as a "showpiece"
Derek Bourgeois - Fantasy pieces. Number 7 is a popular audition piece.
York Bowen - Sonata for flute and piano, op. 120. Published by: Emerson. Full-blooded English romantic. Very good piece.
* York Bowen - Soliloquy and Frolic, for solo flute. Published by: Emerson.
* Eugene Bozza - Image, for solo flute. Core repertoire.
Eugene Bozza - Aria.
Giulio Briccialdi - Carnival of Venice. Mainly of technical/showpiece interest.
Salvador Brotons - Sonata. Good in parts, rather clumsy in others.
Eldin Burton - Sonatina for flute and piano. ~ 10'. Written for 1948 competition. Lightish American classical style, very effective.
! Ferrucio Busoni - Duo for two flutes and piano.
Henri Busser - Les Cygnes et Les Ecureuils.
Henri Busser - Prelude et Scherzo. Published by: Schirmer.
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André Caplet - Reverie et Petite Valse.
Paul Carr - Summer was in August. Published by: Pylloscopus Publications. Rather easy
Alfredo Casella - Sicilienne et Burlesque. Very good piece
Cecile Chaminade - Flute concertino, op. 107. Published by: Enoch, or it's in the popular Schirmer blue book of French flute music (cheaper!). Core repertoire.
Cecile Chaminade - Piece Romantique.
F. Chopin - Variations on a theme of Rossini, op. posth. Published by: I.M.C. Doubtful authorship (?) and probably not worth playing, but is in the repertory.
Ian Clarke - Hypnosis.
Ian Clarke - Orange Dawn.
Ian Clarke - Spiral lament.
* Ian Clarke - Zoom tube, for solo flute. Requires a B foot and possibly open holes too: quarter-tone scale is possible but very difficult without open holes!
[Other pieces by Ian Clarke - Sunstreams, Sunday Morning, Deep Blue, The Mad Hatter, Hatching Aliens, Touching the Ether (fl & pi). * The Great Train Race (C & B foot versions) and * Beverley for solo flute. ! Maya (2 flutes and piano) and ! Curves (3 flutes and piano). His pieces are a good introduction to extended techniques as they're not too difficult, however some require open holes.]
Arnold Cook - Sonatina for flute and piano. Published by: O.U.P. Date of copyright: 1964. Nicely crafted, English pastoral style with energetic, rhythmic finale
Aaron Copland - Duo. Very distinctive, and distictively American, style. Core repertoire.
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Danzi - Flute concerto in D minor. Published by: Heinrichshofen.
* Claude Debussy - Syrinx, for solo flute. Date of composition: 1913. Published by: Societé des Éditions Jobert. Core repertoire.
Claude Debussy arr. Karl Lenski - Bilitis. Arrangement of a song cycle
! Tilmann Denhard - Wake up! for piccolo and alarm clock.
Frederic Delius arr. Eric Fenby - Air and Dance, from "La Calinda". Date of composition: 1915. Published by: Boosey and Hawkes. Very easy; La Calinda is from the opera Koanga, written 1886-7 / 1895-7.
* Robert Dick - Flying Lessons, for solo flute. Crazy; very hard extended techniques.
Gaetano Donizetti - Sonata in C.
Franz Doppler - Air Valaques.
Franz Doppler - Hungarian Pastoral Fantasy. Published by: Schirmer (in the blue book).
! Franz Doppler - Andante and Rondo for two flutes and piano, op. 25. Published by: Schirmer (in the blue book). Very popular piece - more fluent than Doppler's solo pieces.
! Franz Doppler - Concerto for two flutes.
Paul Dukas arr. Louis Fleury - Alla Gitana. Published by: Alphonse Leduc. Date of copyright: 1926.
Henri Dutilleux - Sonatine for flute and piano. Excellent, slightly post-impressionist, more romantic than some of his later stuff. Core repertoire.
Victor Alphonse Duvernoy - Flute Concertino. Published by: Schirmer (in the blue book).
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Georges Enescu - Cantabile et Presto. Published by: Schirmer (in the blue book). Core repertoire.
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Gabriel Fauré - Morceau de concours.
Gabriel Fauré - Fantasie. Published by: Schirmer (in the blue book). Very common audition piece, so core repertoire, though not very typical of that era or of Fauré generally;
Jindřich Feld - Sonata. Complex, rhythmic, lots of harmonic colour. Excellent piece.
* Jindřich Feld - 4 pieces for solo flute.
Howard Ferguson - 3 Sketches. Published by: Boosey and Hawkes. Date of copyright: 1953. Light, very easy, short. Nicely written.
Ivor Foster - Two pieces for flute and piano. op. 49. Published by: O.U.P. Date of copyright: 1965. Light, very easy, short. Interesting, though.
Cesar Franck - Sonata for violin and piano (arr. flute/piano).
* Fukushima - Mei, for solo flute.
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Jacob Gade and Toke Lund Christiansen - Tango Fantasia. Published by: Hansen. Published in a book with 3 other short pieces by Joachim Anderson, Johan Svendsen and J. P. E. Hartmann.
Louis Ganne - Andante et Scherzo. Published by: Schirmer (blue book).
Philippe Gaubert - Fantasy. Published by: Schirmer (blue book). Usual French two-part test-piece format. Quite tricky, good piece.
Philippe Gaubert - Nocturne et Allegro Scherzando.
Philippe Gaubert - Sonata no. 1 in A major.
Philippe Gaubert - Sonata no. 2.
Philippe Gaubert - Sonata no. 3. More substantial and complex than the test pieces. Good piece.
Philippe Gaubert - Madrigal. Easy.
Philippe Gaubert - Deux Esquisses (Soire sur la Plaine; Oriental). Easy.
Gluck - Concerto in G. Published by: Amadeus.
Gluck arr. Edgar Hunt - Dance of the blessed spirits. Date of composition: 1762. Very easy. Quite an effective arrangement.
Benjamin Godard - Suite de trois morceaux, op. 116. Published by: Chester. Easy. Quite pretty.
François Joseph Gossec - Tamborin. Published by: Fentone Music. Was signature tune to "up to the hour" on BBC Radio 4. Very short, simple showpiece, not all that showy, but characterful.
Griffes - Poem.
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Handel - Sonatas. Published by: Emerson.
Howard Hanson - Serenade. Published by: Emerson.
Hamilton Harty - In Ireland. Not a bad piece, and quite varied - sort of classical/romantic take on Irish folk music.
Haydn - Concerto in D.
Jennifer Higdon - Sonata. Poetic, modern.
Paul Hindemith - Sonata for flute and piano. Published by: Schott. Core repertoire.
* Paul Hindemith - Acht Stücke, for solo flute. Published by: Schott.
* Arthur Honegger - Danse de la Chevre, for solo flute. Core repertoire.
* Hoover - Kokopeli, for solo flute.
Anthony Hopkins - Wanton Waltz. Date of composition: 1950. Published by: Schott. Very easy, nicely written short piece. Hopkins was very famous as a music broadcaster.
* Jacques Hotteterre - Echoes, for solo flute.
Georges Hüe - Fantasy. Published by: Schirmer (blue book). Possibly the least interesting of the French blue book pieces.
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Jacques Ibert - Flute concerto. Published by: Leduc. Date of copyright: 1934. ~ 20-22'. Brilliant, colourful piece. Core repertoire.
Jacques Ibert - Aria. Published by: Leduc. Date of copyright: 1931. Doesn't mention arranger, and it does for L'Histoires, on the list of available pieces, so might be original? Lyrical and interesting.
! Jacques Ibert - Entracte, for flute and harp.
Jacques Ibert - Sonatine, for flute and piano. Short, but there's lots in it. Very good piece.
* Jacques Ibert - Piece, for solo flute.
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Gordon Jacob - Flute concerto.
! Gordon Jacob - The March to the River Weser, for flute swapping with piccolo. Published by: O.U.P. Second movement is on piccolo.
André Jolivet - Chant de Linos. Distinctive style and unusual. Very interesting. Hard, with a hideous piano part.
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* Sigfrid Karg-Elert - Sonata Appasionata, for solo flute.
Kent Kennan - Night Soliloquy. American style. A bit dry harmonically. Played a fair bit.
Nicolai Kapustin - Sonata for flute and piano, op. 125. Published by: A-RAM. Complex jazz style: it's all written out - no improvisation required.
Dick Kattenburg - Piece, pour flûte et piano. Published by: Muziek Centrum Amsterdam. Date of copyright: 2008. Dutch style, (despite the title) modern but tonal. Good piece.
Aram Khachaturian arr. Jean-Pierre Rampal - Flute Concerto. Rampal's arrangement of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto. Very showy, very difficult.
Charles Koechlin - Sonate pour piano et flûte. Published by: Editions Maurice Senart. Date of copyright: 1922.
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* John La Montaine - Flute Sonata, for solo flute. In 4 named movements.
Lowell Liebermann - Sonata. 2-movement. The first is 9 or 10 minutes long, very slow and perhaps rather overstretched - not wholly convincing. The second is a short, exciting toccata and is well worth playing. The Liebermann Flute Concerto is dull.
* Lowell Liebermann - Soliloquy, for solo flute.
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Frank Martin - Ballade. Very original, full of tension and atmosphere. Very good piece - core repertoire.
Bohuslav Martinů - First Sonata for flute and piano. Interesting piece - somewhat motoric but very engaging. Core repertoire.
Bohuslav Martinů - Scherzo.
William Mathias - Sonatina for flute and piano. Light in scoring and to some extent in style. Quite easy; lovely piece.
Olivier Messiaen - La Merle Noir. Oblique, but core repertoire.
Darius Milhaud - Sonatine for flute and piano. Published by: Durand. Rather angular, but interesting and distinctive.
Mike Mower - Sonata Latino. Latin style. A bit lacking in substance, perhaps.
Mike Mower - Concerto for flute and wind orchestra. Published by: Itchy Fingers Publications. Itchy Fingers Publications website has a comprehensive list of Mike Mower's works for flute and other instruments, and his ideas about each piece - a very useful resource if you're working on his stuff.
W. A. Mozart - Flute concerto in G major. Core repertoire.
W. A. Mozart - Flute concerto in D major. Core repertoire, although it is a probably fairly hasty re-arrangement of the oboe concerto. The G major is generally thought to be a better piece.
! W. A. Mozart - Flute concerto in C for flute and harp.
W. A. Mozart - Andante in C. Published by: I.M.C. Published jointly with the Rondo in D
W. A. Mozart - Rondo in D. Published by: I.M.C. Published jointly with the Andante in C
Jules Mouquet - La Flute de Pan. Published by: Lemoine. There's a story to each movement.
Robert Muczynski - Sonata for flute and piano, op. 14. Dry-ish, terse, American style. Good piece, done quite often - kind of core repertoire.
Robert Muczynski - Three preludes for solo flute, op. 18.
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Nielsen - Flute concerto. Core repertoire. Very interesting, if enigmatic.
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Perilhou - Flute concerto. Published by: Schirmer (blue book). Not as interesting as most of the blue book pieces. Quite easy to play.
Astor Piazzolla - L'Histoire du tango. Four named movements, an arrangement of this much-played work.
Wilhelm Popp - Staccato Fantasie. Published by: Gérard Billaudot Éditeur.
Poulenc - Flute sonata. Published by: Chester. Date of copyright: 1958. Core repertoire - perhaps the most commonly programmed flute piece.
Prokoviev - Sonata for flute and piano. Core repertoire. Very fine piece. Quite violinistic and hard to bring off.
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Johann Joachim Quantz - Flute concerto in G major. Quite a meaty classical piece.
Johann Joachim Quantz - Flute concerto in G minor. Published by: Peters.
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Carl Reinecke - Flute concerto.
Carl Reinecke - Ballade.
Carl Reinecke - Sonate Undine. Done quite often - kind of core rep. Programmatic piece about the water-sprite, Ondine, in 4 movements. Interesting piece.
Rodrigo - Concierto Pastoral. Published by: Schott. Commissioned by James Galway.
! Doina Rotaru - Legend, for solo flute [but with piano used only as an echo instrument, with the sustaining pedal on throughout]. Published by: Schott. ~ 7'. Playing into the piano and other extended techniques.
Albert Roussel - Andante et Scherzo, op. 51. Published by: Durand. Date of copyright: 1934.
Albert Roussel - Jouers de Flute. Four movements based on classical legends. Interesting piece, well worth doing.
Edwin Roxburgh - Stardrift. Published by: U.M.P. Uses very hard extended techniques.
John Rutter - Suite Antique. Published by: O.U.P. Date of copyright: 1981. There's a lush version of this for flute, harpsichord and strings.
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Camille Saint-Saëns - Airs d'Ascanio.
Camille Saint-Saëns - Romance.
Pierre Sancan - Sonatine for flute and piano. Slightly post-impressionist. Excellent piece.
Peter Schickele - Spring Serenade. Published by: Elkan-Vogal. Very easy.
Franz Schubert - Arpeggione Sonata (arranged).
Franz Schubert - Variations on "Ihr Blümlein alle" aus den Müllerlieden, op. 25. [A.k.a. Variations on "Die Trockne Blümen"]. Published by: Breitkopf.
Erwin Schulhoff - Sonatina for flute and piano. Very good piece.
Gary Schocker - Sicilienne and Scherzo. Schocker is an American flute composer/teacher.
Gary Schocker - There were Daffodils.
Leo Smit - Sonate voor Fluit en Klavier. Published by: Donemus Amsterdam. Date of copyright: 1947. ~ ˜ 15'.
Erwin Stamitz - Sonatina for flute and piano. Very good piece.
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Paul Taffanel - Andante Pastorale et Scherzettino. Published by: Schirmer (blue book).
Paul Taffanel - Fantasie sur le Freischütz. Published by: Schirmer (blue book).
* Toru Takemitsu - Air for solo flute.
Otar Taktakishvili - Sonata for flute and piano. Light and effective. Played quite a bit - worth knowing.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky arr. Emmanuel Pahud - Lensky's Aria from "Eugene Onegin". Requires a B foot.
* Georg Philipp Telemann - 12 Fantasias for flute without bass, for solo flute. Published by: Bärenreiter.
Georg Philipp Telemann - 2 Sonatas. Published by: Amadeus.
Georg Philipp Telemann - Concerto in D. Published by: I.M.C.
Henri Frédien Tomasi - Flute concerto. Published by: Leduc.
Jean-Louis Tulou - Grand solo no. 3, op. 74.
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Yuko Uebayashi - Sonate pour piano et flûte. Date of composition: 2003. Published by: Leduc. Date of copyright: 2012. ~ ˜25'.
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* Edgar Varèse - Density 21.5, for solo flute. Somewhat avant-garde. 21.5 is the density of platinum, the material of which the dedicatee's new flute was made. Core repertoire.
Antonio Vivaldi - 6 Concerti for flute.
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Charles-Marie Widor - Suite. Quite light in style (early romantic), very nicely written.
Philip Wilby - Flute concertino.
Ralph Vaughan Willliams - Suite.