“Sometimes the City is Silent for solo flute was commissioned by the National Flute Association for the 2003 High School Soloist Competition. This piece is based on a series of poetic and musical sketches I made in the fall of 2000 while I was teaching at New York University and living in Greenwich Village on the twenty-fifth floor of a hi-rise. When looking at the view at night I would sometimes try to read the outlines of lights (on bridges and in windows) and shapes on rooftops (water towers and cast iron ornament) as a kind of graphic notation; I would improvise flute lines based on these images. On nights when the windows were open I could hear the sounds of the traffic and people on Houston Street below; I sometimes improvised on these sounds, recorded them and also wrote short poems about them. On rare occasions there were times, usually for only a few moments, when the city was silent. This piece is about all of the above; it is dedicated to the spirit of the people of New York City.”
—Janice Misurell-Mitchell