Work

Programme Note

Many painters — most notably Francis Bacon — have produced series of satellite “studies” around one subject. While these works are complete and interesting in their own right, they also function as commentaries and footnotes on each other, and on the cluster of preoccupations they share, as much as on the “main” paintings for which they are nominally studies. Composers do this sort of thing less often, but it was with this idea of a study in mind that I set out to write a miniature “clarinet concerto” for Gretchen Dunsmore and 175 East some eight years ago.

The piece makes use of the contrasts between the generally light and lithe clarinet writing and the weightier interjections of the ensemble, and the repeated attempts of the soloist to escape the “gravitational pull” of the ensemble could be seen as one narrative strand in the work.

While a study for voicing doubts is a complete composition it was also a testing ground for ideas which have been incorporated into Rank and File Movements, a much larger clarinet concerto for Gretchen, which will be finished in early 2010.

James Gardner

Difficulty:

Advanced

Dedication:

to Gretchen Dunsmore and 175 East

• 175 East
• Gretchen La Roche

Performance History

	20 May 2001	Performed by 175 East; Hopetoun Alpha, Auckland
		175 East
	17 Jun 2001	Performed by 175 East
		175 East
	13 Aug 2009	Performed by 175 East conducted by Hamish McKeich with Richard Haynes (solo clarinet) at The Basement in Auckland
		175 East    Hamish McKeich    Richard Haynes
	15 Aug 2009	Performed by 175 East conducted by Hamish McKeich with Richard Haynes (solo clarinet) at St Andrew’s on The Terrace in Wellington
		175 East    Hamish McKeich    Richard Haynes