These are versatile
multi-instrumentalist performances.
The lists of instruments wielded and
corralled by the husband and wife duo
of Eleanor Duncan Armstrong (flutes)
and Dan C. Armstrong (percussion) is
formidable. This also implies different
performance "spaces" – in
fact personalities throughout.
For example Dan Welcher,
thankfully increasingly visible and
audible on disc, asks for C flute and
alto flute but also a veritable arsenal
of percussion it would take a while
to relate – sizzle cymbal (hello?),
log drums (four), tom-toms and marimba
amongst a number of others. Here we
have a wind gong substituted for the
tam-tam – so at least a degree of flexibility
exists when it comes to instrumentation.
Things aren’t always so extreme elsewhere
but they are sometimes. There’s plenty
to beguile the ear, though the instrumentalists
have to work hard – and they betray
no sign of the effort involved. Welcher’s
Kiva plays adroitly with metrics,
as well as bringing a heavy battery
of percussion.
Lynn Glassock constructs
an enticing Three Days in May. Sonorities
ripple and there’s a feeling of Francophile
limpidity throughout. The plumage here
is fascinating, juxtapositions of avian
flute and suggestive percussion adding
viable almost visualised pleasure. The
verdant Matisse quality of the central
movement is contrasted with the syncopated
drive of the finale. There’s also plenty
of colour and incident in Dana Wilson’s
1997 Pu Em Remu … (From The Tears)
where the flautist also plays percussion
and both musicians engage in some discreet
chants.
Burt Fenner enjoys
a more extended canvas. Fulsome percussion
tattoos create their own rhythmically
complex sound world and the finale is
an exceedingly exciting one. Hofmann’s
Sonata piccola dates from 1975.
It’s not at all wintry, offering instead
one of the few truly witty moments in
the programme in the shape of a finale
of diverting lightness and not too much
ironmongery. Finally we arrive at the
earliest work, Peter Tanner’s 1958 Diversions
for flute and marimba. Cast in six
movements there’s no gainsaying this
piece’s staying power. Employing the
"less is more" principle when
it comes to this combination Tanner’s
ear is acute and his melodies strong.
There’s a delightful Song – one can
imagine a 1950s chanteuse going to town
with it – a clear and insinuating waltz
and then the French lines of the finale,
maybe with a modest debt to Poulenc.
There’s plenty of variety
here but even so the best works make
themselves clear – the Tanner and Hofmann
and then the Glassock. But everything
has its place and the versatile performers
bring effusive life to all these demanding
works.
Jonathan Woolf
for
details 
The Armstrong Flute and Percussion Duo (Eleanor
Duncan Armstrong (flutes); Dan C. Armstrong
(percussion)) 
