How absorbing can one performer and her flute be?
 
Well, very, if using the whole flute family from bass to piccolo and a plethora of backing electronics as well. Melanie Walters means business and her one-hour programme is jam packed with new works, all less than 20 years old from every corner of the globe.
 
In a concert inspired by the beauties of natural phenomena, there were the inevitable slow moving ambient sonics of pieces such as Kenya Wilkins Full Moon with its sultry sleek, dark toned bass flute colours, all aphorisms and silence. Unfortunately, the Jade Monkey isn’t well sound-proofed, but Walters persevered.
 
Cleverly she reserved the up-tempo, jazz inspired minimalist numbers for last with Nico Muhly’s Radiant Musicand Claudia Andersen’s Weather Conversations lifting the spirits using pungent electronics and edgy harmonies as Walters switched from Flute to Bass Flute again for maximum effect.
 
There’s far more variety in this program than you’d expect.
 
Rodney Smith