Clarinet Concerto - writing process
Clarinet Concerto (2022)
The piece began life as a single movement for solo clarinet and orchestra ('Sky Blue'). I composed this in 2014 for my sister, the clarinettist Alison Hughes, to perform with the University of Sussex Symphony Orchestra. It was premiered by them at the University of Sussex on 5 June 2014. It had the title 'Sky Blue' after the painting by Kandinsky. I wrote in 2014, "Sky Blue is inspired by a painting of the same name made in 1940 by Wassily Kandinsky in which figures appear to float free across a clear blue sky. The painting has been described (by Mona Molarsky, 2009) as ‘an ethereal, Miró-like confection with biomorphic squiggles that buzz like glimmering insects in the afternoon sun’. The music is a continuous single movement with moments of harmonic transparency contrasting with sections of greater modal complexity. There are some sections which also feature soloists in the orchestra, perhaps like the free-floating figures in Kandinsky’s painting."
Looking at the first sketch, I was definitely interested in 'glittering' and 'glimmering' textures. I also noted these keywords, 'joy', 'light', 'blue' and even 'jazz'.
In 2022 I expanded it for a new performance by Alison with the Lewes Concert Orchestra, scheduled to take place on 14 October 2022 in Lewes Town Hall. So the original work is now the first movement of a three-movement piece.
The tonal centre of movement one is G. The tonal centre of movement two is E, linked by the third over the G (B). The tonal centre of movement three begins in C, i.e. linked by the third over E (C), but in fact it is part of a large scale progression back to G in which the whole piece concludes (i.e. C-D-G).
In remodelling the piece I was consciously inspired by the Bruch Violin Concerto. The tonal structure of the Bruch Violin Concerto is:
I: G minor with a transition to Bb7
II: E flat
III: E flat - as flat 6 of D - closing in G major
I was intrigued by the concept of a tonal structure that breathes in a single phrase across three movements while still embracing the dynamic tension between solo and ensemble.
Third related harmony is also evident in some of the local phrase structures. For example, in the opening of movement one, a key expressive shift is between G and E, foreshadowing the contrast between movement one and movement two.
The first movement sketch shows that the initial focus was the detailed clarinet solo, with accompanying harmony in very minimal shorthand. I devised a note row that falls by a minor second, then an augmented fourth, then rises by a third. This is the signature motif of the movement. The first seven notes are diatonic. Until around bar 32, the melody is governed by these seven notes. From bar 37, the melody uses a retrograde inversion of the whole row, and so continues to encode the signature motif, but instantly becomes more chromatic. The effect is of greater complexity and perhaps a more inward sound. Although the harmonic plan is minimal, the sketch shows that the structure is essentially 10 x 16 bar units, with a coda. Because the first movement was originally self-contained, the harmonic structure expresses a move from diatonicism to greater chromaticism and back to diatonicism. This shape maps approximately to the shift towards using the full row from around bar 34. The harmonic structure and melodic elaboration are thus roughly aligned.
The second movement is governed by a repeating pattern in the bass line (a recurring melodic pattern that serves as the main structural element). The cycle begins on E and ends on E, but intervening pitch centres are explored discursively. I devised the journey through a chain of thirds (E-G, E-C#, C#-A, A-F#). F# is effectively a secondary dominant. Dominant is reached via its upper neighbour note (C). But the process is stretched out by being mapped to the slow repeating pattern of the ground.
When I was writing the second and third movements in 2022, I did not have access to the original sketch (I've since found this again). So I made a new sketch of the row forms. From the outset of movement three I worked freely with the full row in retrograde forms. The signature motif is thus present but due to the retrograde, and the chromaticism of the full row, the melodic elaboration is more complex at the start of movement three. So unlike movement one, the journey here is from melodic complexity towards simplicity at the close. This process is shaded in with the return of the patterns from the opening of movement one at the close of movement three (the original tune in its diatonic form). There is a melodic process which moves from tension to a kind of resolution, roughly mapping the harmonic process, which is in a 5 X 32 bar (or 10 X 16) bar structure.
What is the significance of this?
Melodic/harmonic processes align, but not always.
Expressively the drift between processes matters to me.
Rhythmic structure remains important as a unifying principle.
The solo versus ensemble dynamic is at its most intense in the third movement where the solo's status is contested most actively by the ensemble and so becomes more complex and urgent. This means that the ending sounds more harmonious than it might otherwise (because it emerges from a larger process).
What is new or original in this?
Postmodern use of note row technique, i.e. it floats over large scale harmonic design which is doing something different.
Method continues to explore the idea of rhythmic structure first encountered in works of Cage, but adapted to a framework that seeks continuity with western art music tension and release/resolution. Note row techniques make a contribution to the wave like processes of complexity/tension that wash over clear harmonic processes.
I tend to use patterns that replicate and vary iteratively at local/micro level, and larger-scale patterns as structural devices. This could be a little like Kandinsky's glimmering insects and biomorphic squiggles in the context of the larger abstract structure?
At same time sensations of colour and illumination through harmonies which breathe and evolve and flow through the work are priorities. That and well judged melodies which carve out dramatic musical spaces.