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20th century

Baroque

Classical

Romantic

20th century

21st century

Solo repertoire

Piccolo

Alto flute

Bass flute

Griffes Charles Tomlinson

Aitken, Robert

Amirov, Fikret

Amlin, Martin

Amram, David

Andriessen, Jurriaan

Arnold, Malcolm

Arrieu, Claude

Auric, Georges

Babbit, Milton

Bacchus, Peter

Bacri, Nicolas

Baker, Michael Conway

Baksa, Robert

Barber, Samuel

Barrere, Georges

Bartók, Béla Viktor János

Baton, René-Emmanuel

Beaser, Robert

Bennet, Richard Rodney

Berg, Gunnar

Berio, Luciano

Bernofsky, Lauren

Bernstein, Leonard

Bloch, Ernest

Bolling, Claude

Bon, Maarten

Bonis, Mel

Boughton, Rutland

Boulanger, Marie-Juliette

Boulez, Pierre

Bourdin, Roger

Bournonville, Armand

Bowen, Edwin York

Bozza, Eugène Joseph

Bréville, Pierre

Brings, Allen

Brotons, Salvador

Brown, Elizabeth

Brun, Georges

Burkhard, Willy

Burton, Eldin

Büsser, Henri

Camus, Pierre

Carmichael, John

Carter, Elliott

Casella, Alfredo

Chaynes, Charles

Clarke, Ian

Colgrass, Michael

Colquhoun, Michael

Copland, Aaron

Corigliano, John

Cortese, Luigi

Currier, Sebastian

Dahl, Walter Ingolf Marcus

Damase, Jean-Michel

Davidovsky, Mario

De Lorenzo, Leonardo

Debussy, Claude

Del Tredici, David

DeLaney, Charles Oliver

Delerue, Georges

Denisov, Edison

Dèsbriere, Jacques

Dick, Robert

Dinicu, Grigoraș

Dodgson, Stephen

Dohnányi, Ernő

Dubois, Pierre Max

Dukas, Paul

Durey, Louis

Dutilleux, Henri

Enescu, George

Farkas, Ferenc

Feld, Jindřich

Ferroud, Pierre-Octave

Flothuis, Marius

Folio, Cynthia

Foote, Arthur

Foss, Lukas

Françaix, Jean

Fukushima, Kazuo

Gade, Jacob

Gál, Hans

Gaubert, Philippe

Genzmer, Harald

George, Thom Ritter

Ghidoni, Armando

Gieseking, Walter

Glass, Philip

Glière, Reinhold

Golovin, Andrei

Gordeli, Otar

Grier, Lita

Griffes, Charles Tomlinson

Grinblat, Romuald

Grovlez, Gabriel

Guarnieri, Mozart Camargo

Gubajdulina, Sofia

Hahn, Reynaldo

Hailstork, Adolphus

Halphen, Fernand

Hanson, Howard Harold

Harberg, Amanda

Harbison, John

Harsányi, Tibor

Harty, Hamilton

Heiss, John

Heith, David

Henze, Hans-Werner

Higdon, Jennifer

Hindemith, Paul

Holliger, Heinz

Holmboe, Vagn

Honegger, Arthur

Hoover, Katherine

Hosokawa, Toshio

Hovhaness, Alan

Hüe, Georges Adolphe

Hurel, Philippe

Ibert, Jacques

Ichiyanagi, Toshi

Ittzés, Gergely

Ives, Charles

Jacob, Gordon

James, Bob

Jemnitz, Sándor

Jirák, Karel Boleslav

Jóhannsson, Magnús Blöndal

Jolivet, André

Jongen, Joseph

Karg-Elert, Sigfrid

Kay, Ulysses

Kelterborn, Rudolf

Ķeniņš, Tālivaldis

Kennan, Kent Wheeler

Kennedy, Martin

Kernis, Aaron Jay

Khachaturian, Aram

Kocsár, Miklós

Kodaly, Zoltan

Koechlin, Charles

Kornauth, Egon

Kraft, Leo

Krzywicki, Jan

Kupferman, Meyer

La Montaine, John

Lauber, Joseph

Lavista, Mario

Lee, Eugene

Leeuwen, Ary van

Levinson, Gerald

Liebermann, Lowell

Loudova, Ivana

Mack, Dieter

Mahler, Gustav

Maresz, Yan

Martin, Frank

Martino, Donald

Martinů, Bohuslav

Meltzer, Harold

Messiaen, Olivier

Mihalovici, Marcel

Milhaud, Darius

Mouquet, Jules

Mower, Mike

Muczynski, Robert

Nielsen, Carl

Norby, Erik

Nordenstrom, Gladys

Offermans, Wil

Olsen, Carl Gustav Sparre

Paget, Daniel

Perle, George

Petrovics, Emil

Piazzolla, Astor

Piston, Walter

Poulenc, Francis

Prokofiev, Sergey

Rachmaninoff, Sergei

Ran, Shulamit

Raphael, Günter

Rautavaara, Einojuhani

Ravel, Maurice

Reynolds, Verne

Riegger, Wallingford

Rivier, Jean

Rodrigo, Joaquin

Rota, Nino

Rotaru, Doina

Rouse, Christopher

Roussel, Albert

Rutter, John

Saariaho, Kaija

Sancan, Pierre

Schmidt, Ole

Schocker, Gary

Schulhoff, Erwin

Schwantner, Joseph

Sciarrino, Salvatore

Shostakovich, Dmitri

Sibelius, Jean

Smit, Leo

Tailleferre, Germaine

Takemitsu, Tōru

Taktakishvili, Otar

Tansman, Alexandre

Tomasi, Henri

Tower, Joan

Uébayashi, Yuko

Varèse, Edgar

Vasks, Pēteris

Weigl, Vally

Weinberg, Mieczysław

Wilder, Alec

Williams, Ralph Vaughan

Yi, Chen

Yun, Isang

Zgraja, Krystof

Poem for Flute and Piano

Poem for Flute and Piano

By Griffes Charles Tomlinson

Charles Griffes: Poem for Flute and Orchestra was written in 1918. The work is dedicated to Georges Barrère, the legendary French-American flautist who was the principal of the New York Symphony and a massive advocate for new American music. It was premiered on November 16, 1919, by Georges Barrère and the New York Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Walter Damrosch.
The work is noted for its use of pentatonic and whole-tone scales, creating a "shimmering" and "otherworldly" atmosphere.
By 1918, Griffes had moved away from his early German training (influenced by Brahms) toward a highly personal style inspired by Debussy, Ravel, and Eastern mysticism. The Poem is the quintessential example of this "Orientalist" phase.
1918 was a grueling year for Griffes. To support his family, he worked as a full-time music teacher at the Hackley School for Boys in Tarrytown, NY. He spent his nights feverishly composing and hand-copying orchestral parts. The physical strain of this workload, combined with the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, severely weakened his health.
Despite his fatigue, 1918 marked his arrival as a front-rank composer. The Boston Symphony's performance of his The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan and the completion of Poem finally brought him the critical acclaim he had long sought.
Just weeks after the triumphant 1919 premiere of Poem, Griffes collapsed from exhaustion and pleurisy (compounded by the flu). He died in April 1920 at the age of 35.

Julius Baker

Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Saidenberg (conductor), 1952, DECCA

Poem

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Thomas Nyfenger

Live broadcast from the 1980s

Poem

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William Kincaid

Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy (conductor), 1952, Columbia Records

Poem

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Griffes Charles Tomlinson

Charles Griffes (1884-1920) was an American pianist and composer, known for his experimental techniques. He studied piano in Berlin but switched to composition, taking lessons from Engelbert Humperdinck. Initially his composition style was greatly influenced by German music. Later, after returning to US and settling in New York, his style  was described as "American impressionism" combining Griffes's admiration of French music, mixed with influence of contemporary Russian music (Scriabin).

Among his most known compositions: White Peacock for piano (1915), Piano Sonata (1917) and Poem for Flute and Orchestra (1918). Griffes died at the age of 35, struck by worldwide pandemic of influenza. The Poem became one of the last pieces he was able to finish himself.