Clariloqui

Description

Ingvar Natanael Lidholm
(Jönköping, Sweden, February 24th, 1921 – Rönninge, Salem, Sweden, October 17th, 2017)
This Swedish composer began his music studies in his early childhood. He developed his musical activity working at the Swedish Radio with important tasks. In the Fifties he obtained international recognition; among other things, he cooperated with the Studio di Fonologia in Milan, and was awarded first Prize at the International Composition contest ISCM in Rome.
His work for solo clarinet, Amicizia (1980) was written as a homage to his colleague, musicologist Ingmar Bengtsson, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.
Amicizia is a character piece for solo clarinet, divided into four sections. Its title refers to Lidholm’s youth, and its atmosphere is enriched by a lyricism close to Nielsen’s style.

William Overtone Smith
(Sacramento CA, September 22nd, 1926 – Seattle, February 29th, 2020)
A clarinettist and composer, Bill Smith (stage name of William O. Smith) occupies an important place in the history of jazz music. He walked the paths of innovation and experimentation. He was among the first composers who took an interest in electronic music, and, as a performer, he experimented until 2004 with amplified clarinet. His catalogue of more than 200 multiphonic sounds for the clarinet is one of the most complete and most frequently consulted documents in its genre. His discography is extraordinarily rich. He has been an Emeritus Professor at the University of Washington.
Epitaphs (1993) is a work in eight short movements, written for two B-flat clarinets to be played simultaneously. Every movement is preceded by an epigram which should be read aloud. The texts are by Anyte of Tegea, a female author who lived in ancient Greece and who wrote these words when the Aulos was still abundantly employed. The entire piece is performed on two B-flat clarinets, aiming precisely at imitating an Aulos player.

Surendran Reddy
(Durban, South Africa, March 9th, 1962 – Constance, Germany, January 22nd, 2010)
A South-African composer and pianist, after his studies at the Royal College of Music and at King’s College London, he had a very successful international career as a pianist of classical and jazz music.
The Southern African Music Rights Organisation commissioned him Game I for Lîla for solo clarinet as the South-African piece within the “Scholarship for instrument players” of 1996. The work includes two traditional African themes, “Shosholoza” and “Jikele maweni ndiyahamba”, as well as a syncopated sequence of chords typical for the popular South-African township, “mbaqanga”. This is Reddy’s preface to the score: “Lîla is my eight-y. o. daughter. At 4 she composed a wonderful song for Winnie-the-Pooh, and I just recorded a piano version of it on a new album called Rough’n’Reddy (1996). This is my way to thank her”.

Stephen Cronin
(Brisbane, Australia, March 9th, 1960)
Born in Brisbane, Australia, he studied composition and piano at the University of Queensland where he obtained a MMus in composition and a PhD in philosophy of composition. As a teacher, he believes that students should be exposed to a large variety of styles and genres. His composition teaching focuses on the creation of a sound compositional expertise, grounded on solid phonetic and theoretical bases.
He says about his piece: “Having grown up as a Catholic, and having attended a convent school as a youth, the Angelus bell rung every day at midday with ritual devotion. Thrice the bell sounded three tolls, separated by prayers and followed by nine more final tolls. This piece is a meditation on my memory of that childhood experience and it imitates the structure of prayer”. Angelus was written for clarinettist Henri Bok in 2006.

Dai Fujikura
(Osaka, Japan, April 27th, 1977)
Born in 1977 in Osaka, Japan, he moved to the United Kingdom at 15. A prize-winner of numerous composition competitions, he received numerous international commissions. He is the composer-in-residence at the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra since 2014. In 2017 he received the Leone d’Argento at the Venice Biennale.
“I wrote Sandpiper (2020) out of pure friendship with flutist Claire Chase. Shortly after, I transcribed it for piccolo clarinet in E-flat. When the pandemic struck in 2020, many of our freelance musicians began to lose their jobs, and had to face real difficulties in surviving as they literally had no income. Sandpiper was premiered as part of the New Music Solidarity Marathon, an event organised by Claire to fundraise for contemporary music artists who were jobless in the first months of the pandemic. (They collected more than $ 500,000!). Shortly before I began writing the piece, Claire sent me a voice message on the phone. When she was recording her message, she was in a forest, and she also played the flute for me in that personal message. Even though I cannot remember the music she played, I do remember the birds’ chirping in the background, and this somehow inspired me”.

Vito Palumbo
(Conversano, Bari, July 16th, 1972)
He began writing music in his early childhood, and was offered a place at the prestigious Accademia Chigiana in Siena where he could study composition. He obtained a post-graduate diploma with full marks and honours at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, under the guidance of composer Azio Corghi. He also obtained a special scholarship which was personally attributed to him by Lucian Berio. In 2005 he was awarded the prestigious prize “G. Premio Petrassi”, established by the President of the Italian Republic, for his work as a composer. He is the prize-winner at numerous national and international contests, and he received commissions and performances worldwide by great institutions and ensembles.
Pulse for solo clarinet (2016) is founded on the idea of a contrast between a “liquid” gesture and a statical harmony formed by several multiphonic sounds. The rotation of these two behaviours created an irregular pulse or beat within form.

Jean-Luc Darbellay
(Bern, Switzerland, July 2nd, 1946)
He is a composer, conductor, clarinettist and MD from Switzerland. He has been the president of the Swiss Society for New Music, and a member of the Board of the International Society for Contemporary Music. He is a member of the composers’ group Groupe Lacroix. For his intense work he is recipient of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He frequently worked in close cooperation with Italian conductor Fabio Luisi.
Darbellay explains his piece thus: “Flash, for bass clarinet, is based on the two notes C and B as slap notes in the low register of the instrument, suggesting the typical noise produced by a reflex camera’s beat when one takes pictures”.

Ruggero Lolini
(Siena, August 16th, 1932 – Siena, May 14th, 2019)
He began his music studies with Maria De Fabritiis, graduating in piano in 1954 at the Conservatory “Cherubini” in Florence. He studied composition with Vito Frazzi. He continued his studies in Paris, from 1954 to 1960, at the Ecole Normale de Musique under the guidance of A. Honegger’s wife (counterpoint) and F. Poulenc, and also at the Conservatoire with D. Milhaud. He attended courses for film music composition at the Chigiana Academy in Siena with Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, with whom he cooperated for many years. From 1968 to 1997 he was a musical consultant for RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana.
He wrote more than 190 chamber music and symphonic works, and also wrote some chamber operas.
His Capriccio for B-flat or for E-flat piccolo clarinet (1985) is performed by Cirigliano on the piccolo. It is dedicated to Ciro Scarponi and was premiered by him at the “Festival Nuova Consonanza” in Rome, at Palazzo Taverna, on May 23rd, 1985.

Fernando Mencherini
(Fermignano, Pesaro Urbino, 1949 – Cagli, Pesaro Urbino 1997)
He studied at the Conservatory “G. Rossini” in Pesaro, following in particular the courses of electronic music given by Walter Branchi. His works for various instruments and ensembles are very numerous. In his last years he dedicated himself also to musical theatre and to dance-theatre. His works have been broadcast by several European radios and are recorded on CDs by important discographic companies. In 2007 and 2013 two international competitions for contemporary music performers took place, both dedicated to him.
Crazy jay blue for solo clarinet, commissioned by Ciro Scarponi, dates from 1985. It was premiered at the “Festival Nuova Consonanza” in Rome, at Palazzo Taverna, on May 23rd, 1985, by clarinettist Ciro Scarponi.
Scarponi himself affirms about Mencherini’s piece: “It is an imitative-descriptive piece, with explosions of violent, Baroque-like sounds, alternating with suffused double-stops of fourth, fifth, and sixth – always the same. The effect is poetic”.

Theodor Burkali
(Györ, Hungary, September 28th, 1975)
After the beginning of his studies at the Conservatory of his city, he continued his education at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied clarinet with Prof. Béla Kovács graduating in 1999. He continued his clarinet studies at the Salzburg Mozarteum completing them in 2001. In Salzburg, he also obtained in 2005 a PhD in musicology. Theodor Burkali’s compositional output is wide-ranging, with works for a variety of ensembles, from solo to orchestra with mixed choir. At the heart of his compositional though there is a slow-motion moment, that, depending on his inspiration, he makes audible to the audience in a caricature which can be coloured, capriciously deformed or thoughtfully dilated in time. He synthetically describes his musical style with a collage word: POLYrhythmic (A)TOmiNimAL Art. Capriccietto for solo clarinet was composed on March 17th, 1997, during his studies in Budapest. With this work, Burkali obtained numerous successes as a clarinettist and composer.
Piero Vincenti © 2022