A Moment’s Madness for flute and piano was written for Lyn McLarin and premiered by her and the pianist Jonathan Rutherford at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City on November 12, 1977. The New York Times review said:
“Of the new music, the most immediately attractive was the Martinez—an often improvisatory, overtly coloristic work that had Mr. Rutherford grouping about inside the piano, plucking and strumming, while Miss McLarin fluttered about brilliantly…. entirely pleasant and characterful."
The work consists of three movements.The first titled
Cadenza begins with a rhythmic Cuban-style riff inside the piano that sets up the atmosphere for the virtuosic flute passages that follow. The second movement titled Solo is just that. It consists of slow-moving flute melodies that bring out the coloristic qualities of the instrument using, for example, slow changes in pitch, quarter tones, and singing into the flute. The last movement has no title, but it plays with the idea of on and off synchronisation between the piano and the flute. The pianist begins with a catchy rhythm inside the piano in 7/16 meter while the flute plays at the same speed but with a jazzy feel. Halfway through the movement the flute becomes completely independent of the piano and erupts into a very fast passage. After a short silence the piano returns with its jazzy tune joined in synch by the flute. Suddenly the flute breaks away and finishes with a very fast solo flute passage where the players sings and plays the same notes at the same time, as fast as possible as if reaching up to the sky.
