Floating Anxious World
When I set out to plan this contemporary solo clarinet album, a thought occurred to me: “Should I solely include well-known unaccompanied clarinet pieces that are frequently performed in competitions?” Instead, I decided to assemble a repertoire that reflects my personal preferences, featuring composers from China, the Nordic countries, France, and Russia. This album isn’t intended as a reference for competition pieces, but rather as a collection that highlights overlooked Nordic clarinet solos, academic French clarinet works, a renowned composition, and a brief piece by Stravinsky, alongside a new work by a Chinese composer.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) composed “3 Pieces for Clarinet Solo” as a gesture of thanks to the philanthropist and arts patron Werner Reinhart, an amateur clarinetist. Written in 1918, this work has since become a cornerstone of the contemporary clarinet repertoire, a must for most clarinet competitions. Another brief piece in this collection, “Pour Pablo Picasso,” was written on telegraphic paper. This piece, more of a musical sketch, hasn’t achieved the same level of popularity as “3 Pieces for Clarinet Solo” and has been seldom recorded. In curating the repertoire for this album, I chose to place these two compositions at its beginning and end, providing a fitting framework for the collection.
This album features four Nordic compositions, each selected for recording for different reasons. Hilding Rosenberg (1892–1985) holds a significant place in Swedish music history as one of its most important modern composers. Yet, his “Sonata per Clarinetto Solo in Sib” has been rarely performed or recorded. Before the recording of this album, there was only one other known recording of this piece. The reasons for its infrequent performance are likely twofold: firstly, even in Sweden, few musicians are familiar with Hilding Rosenberg, and this piece is not widely used in academic teaching, making it relatively unknown to clarinettists. Secondly, the sonata contains two sections that are exceptionally challenging and high-risk, requiring techniques that diverge from standard clarinet performance practices. Nevertheless, due to Rosenberg’s esteemed status in Swedish music history, I chose to include this demanding piece in the album, with the hope of bringing greater recognition to this unaccompanied clarinet sonata. In 2023, I visited Det Kgl. Bibliotek (the Royal Danish Library), housed in the building known as Den Sorte Diamant (the Black Diamond), to search for some forgotten Danish clarinet repertoires. During my research, I unearthed “5 Solo-Stykker, Op.43” by the Swedish-born Danish composer Kjell Roijker (1901–1999). The score in the Royal Danish Library appeared to be a photocopy of the composer’s manuscript. This set of solo pieces is written for woodwind quintet instruments, with the third movement (Nr. c) composed for solo clarinet. Interestingly, the fourth movement (Nr. d) was missing, a fact confirmed by the librarians. The title of the missing movement, listed as “Improvisation og Humoresque (Improvisation and Humoresque)”, suggests that it may have been an improvisation performed by Roijker himself, as this piece was never published and likely only existed in manuscript form. This hypothesis could explain the absence of the fourth movement. Fortunately, the third movement for solo clarinet remains, and through my recording, this work has been brought back into the public eye. The third movement was dedicated to Kaj Borup Frederiksen, a former clarinettist of the Odense Symphony Orchestra. While little documentation exists on Frederiksen, his performance records can still be found on the Odense Symphony Orchestra’s historical website. The Finnish composer Tauno Marttinen (1912–2008)’s “Illusio, Op.214” and Norwegian composer Johan Kvandal (1919–1999)’s “Fantasi, Op.68 Nr. 2” are also pieces that have seldom been performed or recorded. Although these works are not composed in strictly modern styles, they incorporate various elements and motifs from national music traditions. Kvandal’s “Fantasi” is particularly noteworthy for its structure and melodic lines, which evoke the essence of Norwegian folk songs.
Looking back over the past century of unaccompanied woodwind solo music, the French composer André Jolivet (1905–1974) emerges as one of the most significant figures. He made a lasting contribution to the repertoire, particularly for the flute. One notable work, “Ascèses,” was composed for solo flute or clarinet. Jolivet organized the piece into five distinct movements, each inspired by a different literary quotation:
I. Pour que demeure le secret | Nous tairons jusqu’au silence. (Max-Pol Fouchet)
II. Tu surgis de l’absence… (Max-Pol Fouchet)
III. Matière, triple abîme des étoiles, des atomes et des générations. (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)
IV. Le dieu a créé les rêves pour indiquer la route au dormeur dont les yeux sont dans l’obscurité. (Papyrus Insinger)
V. O femme qui ne sais que tu portais en toi le monde. (Max-Pol Fouchet)
My teacher, Christoffer Sundqvist, studied private lessons under the distinguished French clarinettist Guy Deplus, who was a former professor at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMDP). Guy Deplus provided some fingerings selected by Jolivet himself. For this recording, we used all these references to remain as true as possible to the composer’s intentions.
In the year 2019, I Commissioned “Deux Faces” from Jasmine Moni Guo (b. 1993), this piece is written with influences of both eastern and western cultures. As the first solo piece she has written for clarinet, Deux Faces’ goal is to show both the technical and expressive possibilities of a clarinet. Opens with a free and slow section, the introduction then continues into a section of multiphonics. Then the music starts to accelerate with some triplet and finally reaches its climax. Deux Faces ends with the same fast material after the returning of the multiphonics. The title, Deux Faces (双面) means that everything has two sides, and everything needs to find the perfect balance.
Much like the grotesque and jarring tones of contemporary compositions, life in today’s anxious society has become tense and peculiar. The clash of ideas, the fragmentation of thought, and the degradation of aesthetics have dismantled the structure of the modern world, leaving us adrift in a chaotic sea of confusion and ignorance. In the early 20th century, when Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, the audience reacted with riotous confusion, unable to grasp the groundbreaking nature of the work. Yet, as time passed, it became evident that Stravinsky had charted a new course in musical art. Today, with the overwhelming deluge of information inundating our minds, many unrestrained creations emerge, often fueled by anxiety, disdain, and negative emotions. Can we confidently say that these creations will leave a lasting impact on human society over the next 100 years, as The Rite of Spring did? Perhaps, in the distant future, we will look back on today’s pessimism and find it unfounded. But are we truly in the same position as the Parisians were at the premiere of The Rite of Spring? Or are we instead witnessing a far more dangerous decline in aesthetics and thought, one that is driving our society towards an even more anxious and unstable future?
Chen Hu Jie & Jasmine Moni Guo
Contemporary Floating World, for Clarinet
