AMERICAN SOLILOQUY: Music for Flute Alone to Release From Blue Griffin
Richard Sherman curates works by Katherine Hoover, Philip Glass, Jennifer Higdon and others on the two-disc set.
Blue Griffin Recordings has announced the September 14, 2026 release of American Soliloquy: Music for Flute Alone from flutist Richard Sherman. Ranging from late-Romantic to the atonal, and expressively innovative, Richard Sherman has curated a two-disc survey of eighteen composers spanning 125 years of American Music.
In American Soliloquy, Sherman set out to demonstrate that there has been no 'typical' American sound. Each piece explores tonality, rhythm, form, timbre, and flute technique in its own unique way. But all share the challenge of creating a satisfying, complete-feeling composition for a solo instrument, in this case solo flute.
The composers include Katherine Hoover, Elizabeth Brown, Gary Schocker, Ingolf Dahl, Sarah Bassingthwaighte, Philip Glass, Adolphus Hailstork, Wallingford Riegger, Arthur Lourié, Lowell Liebermann, David Amram, James Willey, Stanley Weiner, David Maslanka, Jennifer Higdon, Virgil Thomson, John La Montaine, and Ernst von Dohnányi, all but three of which are native-born Americans.
In approaching the album, Richard Sherman asked, 'How can one construct a piece that feels long enough, that proceeds logically from beginning to end, that 'tells a story,' that contains enough dramatic contrast to keep it interesting, all on an instrument that has a relatively limited range (at least compared with a piano or a large ensemble) and can only play one note at a time?'
Each of these composers provides a unique answer.
About Blue Griffin
Blue Griffin Recording is an independent recording label and a full-service recording company for classical musicians led by GRAMMY Award-nominated Producer and Sound Engineer Sergei Kvitko.
Since its birth in 2000, Blue Griffin rose from a small recording company into an internationally recognized label with almost 300 titles in its catalog and an artist roster that spans the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Blue Griffin is dedicated to recording and promoting new music and closely collaborating with living composers. The label's studio has been honored to host such prominent contemporary composers as Ricky Ian Gordon, Lowell Liebermann, Steven Bryant, John Mackey, Ricardo Lorenz, William Horne, Jenni Brandon, Carter Pann, Jon Magnussen, Thomas Osborne, Charles Ruggiero, David Amram, and many others.
