Performers:
Patrick Hanudel, clarinet Stephen Estep, piano
Movement III: Eleventh Hour
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Thanks, Steve
About the piece...
Technical Difficulties (Sonata for Clarinet in A and Piano) was written between 1998 and 2000, and premiered at Rice University, Houston, Texas, on February 3, 2001, with Patrick Hanudel on clarinet and Stephen Estep on piano. Three people were injured.
I. Fugitive Televisions (Formerly known as "Sarcasm") is named as a parody of and homage to Prokofiev's Fugitive Visions, op 22. The melody began life as a Theme and Variations project for sophomore music theory at Cedarville University. When I went to Miami University, I developed the theme into the first movement of a piano sonata and played it on a composition recital. The next year, I realized it needed more notes than one person could comfortably play, so I converted it to its present clarinet sonata form. There is a quote from the Superman theme, which is a result of marker fumes, Mountain Dew and no sleep. Yeah, it's more Prokofiev-sounding than I want, and it verges on smugness, but I think any faults are redeemed by the ending.
II. Angel Band. This was the last movement to be written. Patrick Hanudel and I were to play the second and third movements for the offertory and postlude at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church's Sunday service in the spring of 2000. I knew I wanted to base the slow movement on a hymn, but I didn't know which one. The day before we were to play the movements, I was driving back to Oxford listening to Emmylou Harris's gospel album, Angel Band, and I realized that Angel Band was the tune I wanted to use. I got back to Oxford around 1 PM, wrote the entire second movement and Patrick and I rehearsed it at 4 PM. I don't recommend that method normally.
III. Eleventh Hour. (This is usually when I get things done.) Since my early teens, I have been fascinated with odd time signatures, which is how this movement ended up in 11/16-time. This movement is a riot to play, and a definite crowd-pleaser, mixing classical, jazz, Klezmer, boogie and Eastern European folk into something that does NOT sound like a tacky crossover piece.
