Sonata for Bass Clarinet and Piano, Op. 111 (2020)

Program Notes:

This piece is the sixth in my series of sonatas for auxiliary clarinets and piano (following alto clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, basset horn, Ab clarinet, and contrabass clarinet), in an effort to expand the serious professional repertoire for these instruments. This sonata is loosely conceived as a "symphony on orchestral excerpts", featuring familiar themes by Stravinsky, Strauss, Ravel, Mahler, Dukas, Grofé, Gershwin, and Tchaikovsky that one would be likely to encounter on the orchestral audition circuit. (I've always found the idea of orchestral excerpts as audition material to be rather problematic; I suppose this could be construed as an effort to rehabilitate them, although that wasn't initially my intention!)

The piece was written to perform on the recital Alternatives VIII on April 28, 2020 with Jane DeVries, piano.