Norman Menzales - Panoramas: Flute Music of the Philippines (2025)

On PANORAMAS, flutist Norman Menzales reflects on his Filipino heritage through a series of chamber ensemble collaborations. The album includes Nicanor Abelardo’s Panoramas, which blends Filipino folk songs with post-Romantic styles, as well as Nilo Alcala’s DABDA, a moving meditation on the stages of grief. The collection also includes collaborations with Menzales’ contemporaries: AJ Villanueva’s Dala-dalangin (Bringing Prayers), for flute and soprano, illustrates anxious feelings about the future using the flute’s vivid timbral colors and extended techniques. Guitarist and composer Sungmin Shin offers a work inspired by various forms of love: love for a partner, love for a child, and love for one’s parents while the Sonata for flute and piano, CB. 29 (MMXXIII) by composer-pianist Joed Balsamo is a liberal treatment on the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic elements of the Philippine kumintang that pre-dates the kundiman. Through these performances and more, Menzales opens a musical and cross-cultural conversation.