Intuitions (No. 1)
| Year Composed: | 2020 |
| Instrumentation: | 3 clarinets (cl/bcl, bh/bcl, cl/bcl) |
| Duration | 6 minutes |
Program Notes
When Jonathan Krehm asked me to compose a set of duos (and a trio!), each to feature a different group of instruments, I struggled initially to find a theme that would unite these potentially disparate movements. I eventually became drawn to the idea of creating spur-of-the-moment pieces—something I have rarely ever done except while improvising (privately.) The process of generating material on-the-fly, and allowing that material to bloom in ways I had not planned from the outset, proved a refreshing and liberating change of pace.
I also wanted each Intuition to reflect, as best I could, the tastes of the performers involved. The first few measures of Intuitions No. 1 (scored for three clarinetists, each with the ability to double on other instruments within the same family) were written almost immediately after listening to Schoenberg’s Suite for Septet and Weinzweig’s Clarinet Quartet—both references that Jonathan was clearly fond of. I wanted, in a similar vein, to create a piece whose palette utilized the full chromatic spectrum, but that would also be alternately quirky, playful, mercurial, and dramatic. The piece opens with a Bartókian, rhythmic vamp, over which a sinuous, languid melody (scored for basset horn) unspools. A vigorous series of ostinatos culminate in a passage where each player is given an expressive solo, precipitating the first of several instrument changes. After an adventurous middle section, the opening material is reprised—on three bass clarinets, their subterranean registers fully utilized—followed by a stern chorale and a devil-may-care Presto coda.
I am grateful to Jonathan Krehm and Canzona Chamber Music for commissioning these works. I hope they will provide both the musicians—and the audience—some measure of solace during these challenging times.
Performances
- November 1, 2020 - Carina Canonica, David Gazille, Jonathan Krehm. Canzona Chamber Players Livestream
Commissions and Awards
- Commissioned by Jonathan Krehm.