NORTH SOUTH CONSONANCE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, Conductor : MAX LIFCHITZ, Soloist: SAMMY LESNICK, clarinet .
Frank Corcoran QUASI UN CLARINET CONCERTO
On May 1st. I will be seventy five. High voltage. Kinetic art. Guantanamo or Gethsemene – take your pick.
There is little time left for prettified ornamentalism.
Yes, the clarinet is a soaring soloist. Yes, it pirouettes and climbs to dizzy heights and descends into darkest depths. Yet it must sound true, tracing form, sing the unspeakable. The strings accompany.
In Movement One the soloist’s line is kinetic elation; its ending is dark.
Movement Two is MY “Big Song”, my “Amhran Mor”. Music as metaphor.
Movement Three could have as a subtitle the Joycean “It soared a bird ” from Bloom’s orgasmic shout in ULYSSES. Into the second half strides a descending bass theme in bass, then celli, then violas and violins. It dominates till the last rocket-like ascent of my clarinet.
Music as rocket-science.
FRANK CORCORAN