MORE INFO AND SHEET MUSIC HERE: http://jonrussellmusic.com/works/bass-clarinet-concerto/

"FOLLOW-THE-SCORE" VIDEO HERE: https://youtu.be/iDCgkjx1Oq8

Jonathan Russell's Bass Clarinet Concerto, performed by Jonathan Russell and the Princeton University Orchestra, Michael Pratt, conductor.

Bass Clarinet Concerto

Horn Concerto, Op. 28

Oliver Knussen, Composer
Mark Wigglesworth, Conductor
Trevor Nuckols, Soloist 
The Juilliard Orchestra

New York Premiere
Alice Tully Hall
New York City, New York

Program Notes:

The wish to compose something for Barry Tuckwell had been somewhere at the back of my mind for almost as long as I can remember. Hence, when I received an invitation form the Suntory Foundation to write a piece for performance in the magnificent acoustic of Suntory Hall, Tokyo, a work for horn and orchestra seemed appropriate, as I imagined that the subtle colour-gradations, wide dynamic range and what might be termed ‘spatial’ characteristics of the horn sound world would be heard to ideal effect in that room (which I knew from having conducted a concert there in 1992). The relationship between the sound of the instrument itself and the space around it is, it seems to me, especially critical in the case of the horn, and this aspect is particularly difficult to reflect accurately in a recording. Thoughts of this nature eventually led to the conception of a predominantly lyrical work which employs a large orchestra (including two sets of timpani) in a very economical manner. The music began as a grateful response to more than thirty years of hearing Barry Tuckwell play and, as I composed it, assumed more and more character of a Nachtmusik (in a Mahlerian sense). My working plan was for two parts, Fantastico (a sonata-allegro) and Adagio (variations on a ground bass), framed and connected by cadenza-like passages. But in the process of composition these designs telescoped unexpectedly, and the result is a single movement, playing for about thirteen minutes in all, in which the interlocked old forms are only vestigial frames for a very allusive piece about aspects of the character of my favourite instrument of all. My Horn Concerto, composed in August and September of 1994, was played for the first time in Suntory Hall, Tokyo on 7th October 1994 by Barry Tuckwell with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra under my direction. The score was revised in October 1995.

© Oliver Knussen

Nuckols Plays Knussen

Oliver Knussen: Horn Concerto, Op. 28 - NY Premiere｜Trevor Nuckols & Juilliard Orchestra (Live)

Adagio for Strings is published by Universal Edition:
https://www.universaledition.com/Werke/Adagio/P0283933

Adagio for Strings (2024)

Three Purcell Pieces, Arranged for Clarinet, Horn, Violin and Cello by J. Crick

III: Chaconne from The Fairy Queen

Three Purcell Pieces III - Chaconne

The second song, John Keats’ ‘To A Lady Seen For A Few Moments At Vauxhall’, is more harmonically wide-ranging than the first, perhaps in an effort to capture the elusive spirit of the poem. The opening chords provide the intervallic content of the rest of the song, and return as a kind of refrain throughout the piece. Twice the singer rises to a bitter-sweet climax contemplating the beauty of the dedicatee before a tender rendition of the opening chord sequence accompanies the words “…and grief unto my darling joys dost bring”.

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Time’s sea hath been five years at its low ebb, 
Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand, 
Since I was tangled in thy beauty’s web, 
And snared by the ungloving of thine hand. 
And yet I never look on midnight sky, 
But I behold thine eyes’ well-memoried light; 
I cannot look upon the rose’s dye, 
But to thy cheek my soul doth take its flight; 
I cannot look on any budding flower, 
But my fond ear, in fancy at thy lips, 
And hearkening for a love-sound, doth devour 
Its sweets in the wrong sense: — 
Thou dost eclipse 
Every delight with sweet remembering, 
And grief unto my darling joys dost bring.

John Keats

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*This is a digital mockup of the two songs using Notion’s sound library. Earphones/headphones are recommended.

Two English Poems for Voice and Orchestra: II Time's Sea Hath Been Five Years At Its Low Ebb'

Japanese Miniature for Flute

雲雀鳴く中の拍子や雉の声
The pheasant’s call, in time to the cries of skylarks
(Matsuo Basho)

A (very) small piece about the songs and dances of birds, inspired by a haiku by Basho. The piece flits between various motifs that represent different bird calls (half inspired by Japanese bird calls, half imaginary) and might be thought of almost as a tiny ballet for flute.

Japanese Miniature for Flute

Adagio for Orchestra

The first song, a partial setting of ‘Lover’s Infiniteness’ by John Donne, begins with a funereal tread that swells occasionally into anguished outbursts, or retreats into uneasy oases of calm. The opening contains a brief quote from Zemlinsky’s ‘Sechs Maeterlinck Gesänge’, as those fantastic songs provided the initial inspiration for my Two English Poems during my university days.

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If yet I have not all thy love,
Dear, I shall never have it all;
I cannot breathe one other sigh, to move,
Nor can intreat one other tear to fall;
And all my treasure, which should purchase thee-

Sighs, tears, and oaths, and letters - I have
spent.
yet no more can be due to me,
Than at the bargain made was meant;
If then thy gift of love were partial,
That some to me, some should to others fall,
Dear, I shall never have thee all.

John Donne

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*This is a digital mockup of the two songs using Notion’s sound library. Earphones/headphones are recommended.

Two English Poems for Voice and Orchestra: I 'Lover's Infiniteness' by John Donne

Sibelius Demo of Violin Sonata Movement IV. Passepied by Taylor Whatley

Violin Sonata Movement IV. Passepied

Oliver Knussen: Eccentric Melody, for solo cello

•Composer/orchestrator
•Songs, chamber music, orchestral music, opera
•Most pieces are currently unperformed digital mockups so if anyone is interested in performing any of my pieces please feel free to contact me

Two English Poems for Voice and Orchestra: I 'Lover's Infiniteness' by John Donne

Jordan Crick

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