Klarinet Archive - Posting 000412.txt from 1995/08

From: Rick Sowash <73563.3161@-----.COM>
Subj: Intro: Cincinnati Clar. Composer
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 22:22:18 -0400

At the suggestion of Jim Fay, I'm writing to introduce myself. My name is Rick
Sowash. I'm a new Klarinet subscriber and this is my first message. I'm 45
years old, and have been composing what most people would call "classical" music
since I was in my early teens.

I'm completely free-lance, associated with no institution of higher learning nor
with any corporation. I earn the bulk of my living from my work as a humorist
(author, performer, storyteller, banquet speaker, with a line of books [soft &
hard-bound], audio tapes of me telling funny stories, and a PBS video
documentary on my work recovering and renewing a tradition of the Tall Tales of
north central Ohio.

I've lived in Cincinnati for just one year, having moved here with my wife and
children for one reason only: so that my daughter could attend the School for
the Creative & Performing Arts here, which is one of the best schools of its
kind in the U.S. (at least, so we are to understand ... and it seems to be a
very good school.)

I love the sound of the clarinet -- so noble, tender, passionate, droll and
sarcastic -- and have written quite a few works for the instrument. Three of
these have been beautifully recorded for Gasparo Records by Craig Olzenak and
the Mirecourt Trio. The CD is entitled "Rick Sowash: Chamber Music with
Clarinet." It includes my "Street Suite" for violin and clarinet and my two
quartets for Clarinet + Piano Trio ... which are entitled "Daweswood: The Bud,
The Blossom & the Berry" and "Anecdotes & Reflections." These pieces have
gotten a fair amount of airplay on classical music stations, both here in the
U.S. and also abroad. They've been featured on NPR's "Performance Today" and
also on APR's "The Bill & Bob Show." Bless those two guys, they love my music!

There is also some of my clarinet music to be heard on a cassette tape which I
produced in conjunction with (and to benefit) the Mid-Atlantic Center for the
Arts in Cape May NJ. It features two of my works: "Cape May Suite" (perhaps
not of much interest to you folks because it's scored for oboe + piano trio;
sorry, no clarinet!) and, on side B, "A Little Breakfast Music" for oboe,
clarinet and two violins. This tape is only available through myself, the
Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and the shops and Bed-and-Breakfasts of Cape
May, NJ who choose to offer it to their walk-in customers.

I have other recordings out, too, but only the above include clarinet.

The three clarinet pieces on the CD are published by DI Music of Great Britain.
None of my other clarinet pieces have been published. I'm slowly groping toward
the realizaiton of a project whereby I'll notate one of my clarinet pieces (one
for starters, more later) in Finale, post it at an FTP site for anybody to
download and then let Klarinet subscribers know about it, where to find it, how
to download it, etc. That way people who might be interested can take a look at
the score(s) without having to "commit" themselves by purchasing a copy or
getting directly in touch with me.

Of course, the piece may be all the more difficult to get published after such
an informal distribution, but I am not particularly concerned about that. I
write music mainly as a way of fashioning gifts for my musical friends and one
can never have too many friends. Happily, I earn enough from my work as a
humorist and don't need to fuss about income from my music. I just want to give
it away, insofar as is possible, to be people who find it intriguing. And to
keep writing more.

For example, I wrote a piece this past spring for the Parisian clarinetist
Jean-Noel Martin to play with a wonderful coloratura soprano friend of his. I
was in Paris in February and heard them perform -- superb! The new piece is
called "Chant, Credo and Alleluia" ... the Chant is a wordless vocalise, the
Credo movement I wrote both in English and in French (it's not the Credo from
the Mass, rather a bit of fine reflective writing which appealed to me for its
wisdom, lyricism and non-denomational character) and the last movement is just
"Alleluia" over and over again. So it works in both languages.

And this fall I'm hoping to complete a clarinet quintet for another French
clarinetist who is also a friend of mine, Lucien Aubert.

There is a small circle of professional musicians in Paris who like my music
very much, though oddly enough I am all but unknown here in Cincinnati. Then
again, I have not particularly tried to make connections here ... I'm happy with
things as they are, and in any case I am busy performing humor and composing.
By the way, don't get confused on this: I'm a humorist with WORDS .. my music
is mostly serious with a little humor now and then a la Franz Joseph Haydn ...
I'm not some kind of Spike Jones or Peter Schickele (though I admire those two
very much, actually -- has anybody heard Schickele's Quartet for Clarinet and
Piano Trio? Great!).

In the career sense, my model has long been Charles Ives -- non-academic,
writing his own stuff, out there earning money part of the time and back home
composing part of the time.

My music, however, sounds nothing like Ives'. The comparisons tend to be with
Barber, Thomson & Thompson, Copland, Gershwin, Sousa ... I'm a latter-day
Americanist of sorts. Tonal, accessible, melodic music. My French friends call
it "Anti-Boulez." (The French always like to be Anti-Something.) "Folky but
not hokey" is how a musician described my stuff this summer at the Adirondacks
Festival of American Music ... I was a featured composer there in mid-July and
had 13 art songs and 5 choral works wonderfully performed there by the Gregg
Smith Singers (but no clarinet music there, sorry.)

Well, I'm wondering if any of you Klarinet subscribers "out there" have already
heard my CD on your local classical music radio stations ... and I would like to
hear from anybody who'd be curious to know more about my music, perhaps to
request me to e-mail to you a list of my other works that include clarinet,
maybe eventually see some scores, (either by downloading them as described above
or via photocopies in the mail) hear recordings, be the first on the block to
know about the new clarinet works I'm in the process of writing, keep in touch,
etc.

Also, if anybody knows of an FTP site where I could post my music, I've got one
or two pieces all ready to go, one in particular, a work for unaccompanied
clarinet called "College Town Suite" which depicts the twelve months as they
pass in a college town ... meanwhile I suppose I could send out photocopies to
interested parties, though that can get expensive if the demand becomes too
great. Whatever ....

If anybody does want to contact me, please title your "subject" as "To Sowash"
so that I can sort you out readily from all the other messages I'm getting ...
thanks.

Hope I haven't gone on too long, something I tend to do in humor and in e-mail,
though hopefully not in composing.

Rick Sowash
Cincinnati, OH