Lullaby. Edmonton Symphony Orchestra: "A Concert for New York" (2013). 2014 Western Canadian Music Awards nominee for Classical Recording of the Year.Purchase.
Clarinet Trio
Instrumentation:
piano, clarinet, cello
Duration:
12:30
Year
Composed:
2006
Intense and tormented - Allegro
agitato
Andante cantabile - Allegretto
- Andante
Audio Samples
I. Allegro (middle)
II. Andante (opening)
Program Notes
A trio for clarinet, cello and piano, the
two-movement structure etches an arc from tension and anxiety to calm
and serenity. The first movement begins with a brief unmeasured
introduction, Free but explosive, in which the
clarinet, starting on A-flat, introduces the movement's basic harmonic
material, the augmented major-seventh, punctuated by piano chords. The
next section, marked Intense and tormented,
presents the principal motivic material, descending chromatic lines
separated by a leap of a major seventh. This motif is explored in
several increasingly agitated waves of development that lead to a
central Allegro agitato in which the accumulated
tension explodes. The second movement, Andante cantabile,
begins with a free canon in the clarinet, and starting on G-sharp, the
first movement's tonic enharmonically respelled. The second movement
mirrors the first in contour—it picks up in tempo and activity before
receding—but, like a soft echo, in a much calmer vein. Its rich
contrapuntal unfolding and its more diatonic-leaning harmonies offer
relief from the angularity and dissonance of the first movement. The
piece ends on an E-major chord, with the G-sharp in the clarinet and in
the same register as the very opening note of the piece.
Performances
Aug 28, 2010—CBC Radio 2 broadcast on "The Signal" (Laurie Brown)
Mar 12, 2010—CBC Radio 2 broadcast on "The Signal" (Laurie Brown)
Feb 6, 2010—David Palmer, Trevor Pittman, Andrea Yun
Windsor Canadian Music Festival (Armouries, Windsor, ON)
Nov 22, 2008—Peter Longworth, Lydia Munchinsky,
Peter Stoll
Robert Rival Doctoral Recital, U of T
Feb 3, 2007—Sarah Steeves, Peter Stoll, Zhenya
Yesmanovich
U of T New Music Festival (Walter Hall, Toronto)
Jul 31, 2006—Julian Armour, Ross Edwards, Peter
Longworth
Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival
Reviews
Score Perusal &
Parts
For score perusal and parts information, contact Robert Rival.
