Publisher

Protone

Year of Composition

1987

Duration

5'

Instrumentation

Solo flute

Categories

Chamber Music

Program Note

Shenblu was written for Carol Kniebusch, principal flutist of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. As Carol was going to China to lecture and perform, I decided to write a work for her reflecting an element common to both Chinese music and American jazz — namely the pentatonic, or five-note scale. Also, I wanted to emphasize qualities not normally associated with the flute — its earthy, animal nature. Carol raises Pekingese show dogs, and the name of her kennel is “Shenblu”. Assuming that this was a Chinese word, because the dogs originally came from Peking, I decided to call the piece “Shenblu”. When I asked Carol to translate the name from the Chinese, she said, “Oh, that’s not a Chinese word at all! It’s a name I made up from the combination of Shenendoah and Blue Ridge Mountains where my kennel is located!” This being a “bluesy” sort of Chinese piece, the title seemed that much more appropriate!

—Victoria Bond

Audio/Video

Purchase Sheet Music

Print (Protone Music)
Digital (Protone Music)

Commercial Recordings

Victoria Bond Compositions (Gega New)

Commission & Premiere Info

Premiered by Carol Kniebush in Shanghai, China on May 16, 1987

Press Quotes

"Contains an element common to both Chinese music and American jazz: the pentatonic or five-note scale. A fun piece to perform, it's success depends upon the flutist’s ability to present the changing moods from languid and expressive to intensely driving, primitive and guttural, in a multi-metered dance-like section." — Flute Talk

"A tour-de-force for flute...the work is a fascinating compositional tease and a technical challenge." — The Ithaca Journal