PROGRAM NOTE
The process of contemplating a yet-to-be-written composition has always conjured up in my mind the image of a person embarking on a journey to a mysterious, unknown destination. All is possible, the freedom both exciting and daunting! Time and again, as I begin this process, two decisions, often determined by the external circumstances of a commission, help ground my impulses and direct me to a road on which to travel. These are the projected length of a piece (akin to the painter’s size of canvas), and its instrumental forces (or cast of characters).
Having previously written a single-movement solo clarinet piece of a length similar to what was envisioned here, I opted this time to compose a set of three moderately short pieces forming a single entity. Almost by compulsion, I found myself drawn once again to what is, in my mind, the clarinet’s uniquely dramatic persona. The three contrasting scenes take us on a mental and emotional journey. Diverse as the journey’s spaces are though, the traveler remains the same, yet going through a process of transformation. The first movement intersperses bold and dramatic music with slow, contemplative, almost otherworldly music. The second movement is volatile and mercurial, juggling the graceful and dance-like with music of great ferocity. A brief, static, Entr’acte separates the second movement from the song-like last movement. The slow music from the first scene returns and is transformed, recast, and ultimately brought to a new sphere of consciousness.
—Shulamit Ran
In concert programs, please list the three movements’ titles as follows
I. Bold and Dramatic
II. “Chameleon”
[Entr’acte]
III. Song
INFORMATION
Commissioned by Yamaha Band and Orchestral Division for Arthur Campbell
Premiere: October 26, 2000
Performing Arts Center,
Grand Valley State University, MI
Arthur Campbell, clarinet
Duration: c. 8’30
RECORDING
Recorded by Arthur Campbell, clarinet, on Premieres! Gasparo Records GSCD-341
SHEET MUSIC
Available from your favorite sheet music seller or directly from Theodore Presser.