Description
Allegro, Blues & Bop!
Allegro, Blues & Bop!-Audio Samples: Movt.1: Allegro. Movt.2: Blues. Movt. 3: Bop!
Level: Advanced
About Allegro, Blues & Bop!
Allegro, Blues & Bop! Op. 455 for Clarinet in B♭, Violin, Viola and Cello
This three-movement work is scored for clarinet in B♭, violin, viola and cello, and brings together elements of modern classical styles with those of jazz.
Never entirely one style or the other, the work is designed to offer performers and audiences alike a taste of each of the styles it presents. The work is written so that advanced players can perform it without extensive knowledge of jazz techniques, although familiarity and skill in jazz will certainly enhance the performance.
Movement 1: Allegro
The movement opens with a jaunty, lively theme in the clarinet, accompanied by rhythmic punches and flowing lines in the strings. The theme is passed between clarinet and strings before the pace relaxes into a moderate blues section, with the clarinet taking on a soloist role. This introduces the first clear taste of jazz in the work. After the violin presents the theme, the clarinet returns with a bridge that leads into a short call-and-response passage and an accelerando into a recapitulation of the lively main theme. The music then settles into brief reminiscences of earlier ideas before the final section spirals upward to a dramatic high-register conclusion.
Movement 2: Blues
This movement begins with a slow, blues-inflected theme over a string ostinato. The music then moves into a steady, jazz-styled 12-bar blues featuring big-band-style punctuations. The clarinet performs a written or improvised solo over this progression. A close-position, “sax-section” style passage follows, led by the clarinet. A written, jazz-styled one-chorus cello solo then leads into a “shout chorus” — a term from big band jazz describing a call-and-response or riff-based section over a repeating harmonic sequence. A brief recapitulation follows, bringing the movement to a close with a surprise tremolo chord.
Movement 3: Bop!
The final movement bursts forth with the energy and vitality associated with bebop of the late 1940s and 1950s. The main theme is bright and bubbling in the clarinet, punctuated in big-band style by the strings. A brief recall of the first movement’s theme appears before the bop theme returns, driving toward a tightly scored, ascending final flourish for the full ensemble.
About The Theme
The theme for this movement was originally composed when I was 13 years old under the title A Pasty with Sauce, named after my favourite school lunchtime meal. Early sketches show it was dedicated to my friend and jazz clarinet mentor, Don Burrows. Other versions bore titles such as Aussie Pasty with Sauce and Australia Pasty with Sauce. Although never performed at the time, the theme has finally found its place in this work nearly 40 years later.
A Note to Performers
While extensive jazz knowledge is not required to perform this work, it would be invaluable for performers to listen to 1940s big band recordings, as well as artists such as Charlie Parker and Buddy DeFranco. This listening will provide insight into the jazz styles and techniques that can make a performance more authentic and effective.
This product comes with Conductor’s Score, clarinet in B♭, violin, viola & cello parts as well as mp3 performance & backing tracks
Duration: circa 15 mins
