East

Year: 2016

Heading: concerto for clarinet and orchestra

Movement Titles:
I. Always moving forward
II. Cantabile e misterioso
III. Rhapsodic

First Performance:
March 4-5, 2017
Weixiong Wang, clarinet
Albany Symphony
David Alan Miller, conducting
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
Troy, New York

Instrumentation: 2.1.0.2—2.0.0.0—timp.perc(1):maraca/wblk/tamb/susp.cym/tgl/t.bells/glsp/xyl—harp—strings

Duration: 11'

Recording: by Weixiong Wang and the Albany Symphony Orchestra, found on the album called, Sky

Listen now: EAST (click here to listen)

Program Note:
Brevity focused me to be concise. Though rhythm and orchestration were always on my mind, it was melodic development that I thought about most—the ways that melodies and themes open up and combine with themselves. West, for the bassoon, reminds me of the western coast of the U.S., especially in Oregon. South, for the oboe, reminds me of feelings I’ve had in the south of France. East, for the clarinet, reminds me of morning with a hopeful, fresh sun rising in the eastern sky. Where is North, some might ask? It is waiting to be commissioned.

I have always loved what woodwind instruments can do, both expressively and technically. I feel somewhat more at home in this medium, having played bassoon growing up, and sitting in the woodwind section of Music for Youth, Milwaukee’s youth orchestra at that time.