PROGRAM NOTE
FOR AN ACTOR: MONOLOGUE FOR CLARINET owes its inspiration in large part to the intensely personal ethos with which the clarinet is associated in my mind. To me, the instrument in its contemporary usage suggests an incredible gamut of gestures, dynamics and emotions. Accordingly, in MONOLOGUE, the player assumes the role of a virtuoso actor who, by purely musical means, goes through a kind of wordless “monodrama”.
Though not literally in sonata form, the parts of MONOLOGUE nevertheless roughly parallel that form, consisting of: exposition or unfolding in two stages; development-disintegration including a cadenza; coda echoing the opening materials.
The work was commissioned by renowned New York clarinetist Laura Flax (1952–2017), in memory of her mother Hazel Flax. She first performed it on May 10, 1978, on her debut recital presented by Da Capo Chamber Players, at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City. It is recorded by Laura Flax on an all-Ran CD on Bridge Records.
—Shulamit Ran
INFORMATION
Commissioned by Laura Flax
Premiere: May 10, 1978
Carnegie Recital Hall
New York City
Laura Flax, clarinet
Duration: c. 8’
RECORDINGS
Laura Flax on Da Capo Chamber Players’ Music by Shulamit Ran, Bridge Records BCD 9052
Larry Combs first released on LP by Mark Educational Recordings, now available on Audio CD MARK Vintage Series
SHEET MUSIC
Available from your favorite sheet music seller, or directly from Theodore Presser.