music for piano and clarinet (2016)

There has been a breakthrough.  For those of you who may have read any of my previous blog posts, I can just imagine what you're thinking:  "What? Another breakthrough?"

And, snarky you may be, but this time it's resulted in a new piece - my first completed work for 2016.

music for piano and clarinet really does exist.  I'm not philosophising about it. I'm not saying that this will transform the world in any way.  But writing it has been a crystallisation of almost everything I've written here.  So, it's done, then?

Well, not quite.  No mutterings from the back please!  When I say not quite I simply mean that, although the music has been notated, much of what happens in the music is determined by the performance.

Each bar, or section, is repeated many times but notated only once.  Each iteration should include a small modification, at the performers' discretion, until, by the time the bar has been repeated thirty or so times, the sound should bear little relation to what has been notated.  Then comes another bar or section, often very similar to the first, and the process is off again.

I am - and have been for over ten years - interested in silences and repetition in music.  There are silences in this music and many repetitions, so I seem to have found my moment.  I've landed in  2016 with my creative feet hitting the ground running.

Having finished this piece, I can now go back to older ones with renewed vigour and confidence.  I first had the idea for a string quartet, gestures and memories, a couple of years ago, finding a place to put many older ideas into new pieces with structural integrity.  Then, the chamber symphony, which has been on my mind, on and off, for years.  And so on...

And none of this would have been possible without the fellowship, love and support of fellow composer Marc Yeats.  His kindness has been extraordinary. His music an inspiration.

music for piano and clarinet is dedicated to him.  And a dedication was never more deserving.

Very many more posts to follow soon, as I try to create short pieces while write longer ones like the string quartet and the chamber symphony are being composed.

I have a very strong feeling that 2016 will be good to me. I'll keep you posted...