"The epic concerto is a wonderful exploration of the contrabass's colours, bringing to life this myth in both dizzying detail and ambitious scope." -Angus McPherson, Limelight Magazine

Score and parts now available from the Australian Music Centre: https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/lam-cameron-yggdrasil-the-world-tree/33610

Performed by Sydney Conservatorium of Music Wind Symphony, Sue Newsome (contrabass clarinet), John Lynch (conductor)
Recorded by David Kim-Boyle for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Music Composed by Cameron Lam
Yggdrasil Cover Art by Luke Moseley

Program Notes:
Yggdrasil was born in the void, between world worlds of fire and ice…
This concerto based on Norse myth of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, which connects the nine worlds of Norse cosmology. It plays host to many of the great myths of this culture such as the hanging of Odin and Loki’s betrayal of the Frost giants. Here though, I’ve chosen to look at things on a larger scale – the creation and destruction (Ragnarok) of the worlds with which Yggdrasil is tied.

The work splits the ensemble into three parts Yggdrasil (our contrabass clarinet soloist), Fire: the primordial world of Chaos (woodwinds) and Ice: the primordial world of Stasis (brass). Through combinations of these elements we see the stories of Yggdrasil unfold; the birth of the giant Ash tree Yggdrasil, Rattatosk the squirrel running up and down its trunk spreading nasty rumours the eagle who lives in the canopy and the serpent who lives at the roots, the ancient Norns (fates) tending to the Well of Destiny from which Yggdrasil’s roots drink. These stories culminate in the ultimate cataclysm, Ragnarok literally “Twillight of the Gods”, and Yggdrasil’s rebirth from the ashes of that destruction, marking the beginning of a new world.

The stories of Yggdrasil have echoes throughout array of modern fantasy literature from Dungeons & Dragon to The Alchemyst series by Michael Scott to the Marvel Universe (Thor).

This is the first Australian concerto for contrabass clarinet and wind symphony, and as best as my research can tell the first one worldwide. It is the fifth in a series of clarinet-based works written for Susan Newsome and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, all about trees. Other entries in Jacaranda for bass clarinet duo and piano, and Eucalyptus: Genetic Dances for clarinet quartet. The series is called Arboretum.

Yggdrasil is currently being recomposed for contrabass clarinet and symphony orchestra (another world first I believe) in anticipation of 2018 Orchestral premiere.

Score available soon from www.kammerklang.com

Yggdrasil: The World Tree [Live] (Contrabass Clarinet Concerto)

Cameron Lam - Composer