Bruce Bodden, principal flute, 25 years with the symphony

Flutist Bruce Bodden first played Claude Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” with the Spokane Symphony 20 years ago, and he takes on its complicated flute solo again this weekend. We spoke with Bodden about the piece, an impressionistic composition that drifts between consciousness and dream state, and how his perception of it has changed over the years.

SR: Did you have a personal relationship with the Debussy piece before playing it with the symphony?

Bodden: He wrote a piece for unaccompanied flute called “Syrinx,” and it’s sort of connected mythologically to “Afternoon of a Faun.” … I had learned that piece when I was 15, and I always loved it and still do. It took me awhile to get an understanding of “Afternoon of a Faun.” It often sounded amorphous; it’s not really a tune you can whistle, unless you get to know it really well, which takes some time. It’s hard to get a grasp on it. I probably needed to mature somewhat as a musician.

SR: What do you think it is about the piece that appeals to you now?

Bodden: I think the reason I like it now is the reason it didn’t speak to me then, which is the ambiguity and the haziness. The situation that the poem is depicting is a hot afternoon, and the faun has fallen asleep under a tree. This is him waking up and saying what he was dreaming about. When I was a teenager, I think I wanted a story with some action in it. But there are a lot of pieces that really are about something. … Those pieces are much more common than something where the description is so vague and hazy, and (Debussy) does a great job of capturing that quality. As you get older, you appreciate that ambiguity more.

SR: Would you say the solo is particularly difficult?

Bodden: Yes. It’s not fast, so it doesn’t make a big demand on your fingers. But what you do have to do is play pretty much 20 to 25 seconds in one breath, and there’s nothing else happening. So it’s 1,500 silent people and you. If your heart is pounding, you have to deal with that. It can’t sound like your heart is pounding, because the piece is all about someone waking up from a dream. … Playing big solos is fun, but the part I really enjoy is the handing off between the flute and the oboe, and the flute and the clarinet. It’s subtle, but doing it well is really satisfying. The line keeps going, but it suddenly changes color because a different instrument is playing it, and if we do a good job, you don’t realize what happened for a minute.

Nathan Weinbender