Little Fantasy for Clarinet
Composing Year:
2004
Instruments:
Solo Clarinet
Duration:
10'
Karl Heinz-Steffens - clarinet
The piece is dedicated to my late father, Daniel, who was a wonderful clarinet player, a gifted klezmer, an amazing musician and above all a loving person! Like my Viola Fantasy called “Monodialogue”, this piece too is written in a free associative stream of conscience manner. It is divided into seven loosely connected episodes, with different moods. One can imagine a kind of short Monodrama where the actor is changing characters quite fast.
The basic melodic cell consists of four expressive, almost chromatic notes, which undergoes various development and change procedures during the entire piece. Although the musical language is free and post tonal, an attentive listener can discern a “tonal” center- the note D concert- which either start or ends almost all the internal sections. One can also feel echoes of some Klezmer music and Jazz.
Because the piece was written with didactic intention, for relatively young performers, I’ve tried to use, in quite a condensed way, different playing techniques, modes of articulation and expression, to challenge the young players.
“Little Fantasy for Clarinet” was commissioned by the clarinetist, Sarah Elbaz, for the "Clarinet Days 2004” in Israel. The grants for writing the piece were received from the Yehoshua Rabinovich Tel Aviv Foundation for the Arts.