"Analogues" is a set of three movements for Clarinet and Bass Clarinet
composed at the request of Peter Wright - principal Clarinetist of the
Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. The work was premiered by Mr.
Wright
and Bass-Clarinetist Elizabeth Kilpartick at the 2004 International
Clarifest
in Washington DC. The mp3 file below is a recording from the
premiere.
The title of the work is suggestive of the Analog
synthesizers of the
60's and 70's - each individual movement taking its title from devices
commonly associated with the synthesizer. Although each movement
hints at some of the textural aspects associated with the respective
synthesizer
device, the work is primarily an attempt to blend the two instruments
into
a single composite. The first movement, "Arpeggiator" does
this through classical (and often very close) imitative counterpoint
and
is probably the most traditionally sounding of the three. The
more
ethnic sounding second movement, "Resonant filter" blends the two
instruments
primarily through a varied intervallic doubling that emphasizes the
unique
overtone structure of the clarinet - one that prominently features the
odd numbered overtones of the harmonic series. "Sample and Hold"
- the final movement uses a hocket-like texture to meld the two
instruments
into a composite. Stylistically, this last movement is rather
whimsical,
borrowing more from popular idioms and harmonic progressions.
Although they are somewhat eclectic in style, the three movements are
unified by a sprinkling of chromatically complex idioms mixed in with
the
more "indigenous" diatonic elements, and also by a large-scale tonal
structure
that gradually descends in semitone increments from a tonality of "A"
at
the beginning of the first movement to a tonality of "F" at the close
of
the last movement. Hence, both the first and second movements end
tonally a half-step lower than they begin.
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