I never expected it to happen like it did. One early winter evening I arrived at my parents' home to find it empty and the phone ringing - three months later my mother was dead, felled by a brain cancer that was at least brief in it's otherwise merciless course. This record is for her. -- My mother was a part of my musical life from the very beginning. In fact, my first instrument was a clarinet that Mom had played in high school in the 1950s. My mother ferried me to lessons and youth orchestra, to symphony concerts and auditions for honor bands. Over the years, she came to countless performances. Today I still play on an A clarinet she bought for me when I was just starting out as a professor. This record begins and ends with two pieces by Ben Broening, Arioso for clarinet and piano, and Arioso/Doubles, for clarinet and computer. I love Ben's music because it is lyrical and expansive - at the same time contemporary and also clearly rooted in tradition. The title Arioso reflects the works' indebtedness to vocal music of the 17th century. A fascinating aspect of these works is that the clarinet part is identical in each, yet both pieces are totally different works of art. The thread that connects both works is lyricism - at first intense and brooding then opening up into a full-voiced and soaring statement of emotion. I find Ben's craftsmanship in creating two totally different works out of literally the same material to be astounding, and I'm delighted to bookend my record with them. The second work on this record, Ed Jacobs' Aural History for clarinet and piano, is the result of both a commission and a relationship between friends. I premiered the work in 2004 and this is also the first recording. Eddie and I have been close friends for more than a decade. He was a confidant and mentor for me as a young college professor, and his friendship and advice have been essential. The inspiration for the first movement of Aural History is the sixth movement from Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for The End of Time, a movement that features complete unison across four parts. Eddie filters this idea through his own lens, that of a jazz combo burning through unison passages of their own, and ends up with a kind of trippy moto perpetuo. The movement starts as a unison between the clarinet and piano but soon begins to break apart and come together again. The second movement, a recitative, is a long, contemplative monologue for the clarinet, accompanied by broken chords in the piano. The second movement bleeds into the third, which completely comes apart at the seams until a slight return of the first movement unison brings things to a definitive close. I'm extremely proud of this piece and I'm gratified that Eddie made something so cool. Joan Tower's Wings is the first of two consecutive works for unaccompanied clarinet on this record. I love Joan's music because of it's muscular virtuosity, it's lithe and pulsating rhythm, and it's full-winded lyricism. Wings is all about momentum - floating in almost timeless space, falling and swooping, spinning and crashing. Wings is not literally about flight, but the impression of flight, the idea of being lighter and heavier than air and wind. Wings asks for almost everything from the clarinet and the clarinetist - the very softest and loudest notes one will ever play; a range from the lowest possible note to some of the very highest on the horn; and difficult technical passages coupled with some of the most beautifully sustained lines in the solo literature. Wings has become a standard of the modern clarinet literature and I'm happy to finally lay down my vision of Joan's great piece. The Abyss of the Birds from Olivier Messiean's Quartet for The End of Time, is the most well-known piece on this recording. Here's what Messiaen had to say about this movement: 'The abyss is Time with it's sadness, it's weariness. The birds are the opposite of Time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant songs.' This piece was a late addition to the record. I
