Sonata for A Clarinet and Piano, Op. 129 (2022)

Program Notes:

This piece is the eighth in my series of sonatas for auxiliary clarinets and piano (following alto clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, basset horn, Ab clarinet, contrabass clarinet, bass clarinet, and Eb clarinet), in an effort to expand the serious professional repertoire for these instruments.

Around the 1950s, performers and composers began to seriously study and catalogue the extended techniques possible on various woodwind instruments. In the clarinet world, William O. Smith was one of the early pioneers, and much of his work has been refined by modern composer-performer Eric Mandat. I have had the privilege of meeting Eric several times and am currently engaged in a project to record all of his compositions for clarinet. In his works, he utilizes various extended techniques in a very approachable way, and I have tried to emulate this, featuring microtones, mulitphonics, and flutter-tonguing. Additional inspiration comes from the harmonic and rhythmic language of composer Kenji Bunch.

While most of the "contemporary" repertoire for clarinet is for Bb clarinet, this sonata is intentionally written for the slightly lower A clarinet - an instrument typically associated with the orchestra - in order to broaden its repertoire!