Klarinet Archive - Posting 000010.txt from 1996/02

From: Rick Sowash <73563.3161@-----.COM>
Subj: composer offers 2 (or 3) free scores
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 10:47:29 -0500

Klarinet subscribers, salut!

I'm pondering that age-old question: When you cast your bread upon the waters,
does anything return to you other than soggy bread?

Continuing my on-going experiment to see what happens when a composer offers his
scores, free of charge, to anybody who says they want them, I'm hereby offering
to send any Klarinet subscriber the scores of two of my newly available works.

One is my woodwind quintet, entitled "Three American Perennials," ca. 16 minutes
in length, with movements as follows:
I. Folk Dance
II. Sea Chantey
III. Ragtime

The other work is scored for reed trio (oboe, clarinet & bassoon) plus piano.
It is entitled "The Unicorn & the Phoenix," ca. 12 minutes in length with
movements entitled (no surprise here):
I. The Unicorn
II. The Phoenix

I have transcribed the music into computer notation using Finale and the scores
are just beautiful to look at. Page turns neatly figured out, etc.

As the Personal Columns often say, "Serious Inquiries Only!" To help you decide
whether or not you're serious, I'll try to describe these works so that you can
see what you'll be getting.

I'm in the Copland-Barber-Sibelius-Vaughan Williams neck of the woods. Which is
to say that all of my music is tonal and accessible, and demands good players
though they don't have to be terribly virtuose. If you want to know more about
me and my work check out my web site: http://www.primax.net/rick

The Three American Perennials quintet is very "Americanistic" in sound and
character -- the Folk Dance movement is a loving send-up of Aaron Copland and
includes some wry quotes from his Hoedown and Appalachian Spring, as well as
some traditional American folk-tunes, like "Old Dan Tucker" and "Camptown
Races." Then too, at least one of the themes in this movement could serve as
the main title music to a classic Hollywood western. The form is rambling and
rhapsodic, serving up a rapid succession of American-sounding fragments, with
what I hope is a witty, mosaic effect.

Now we get serious. The Sea Chantey opens and closes with the famous flute-oboe
parallel fifths in Debussy's "La Mer," framing two original tunes, presented in
ABA form, in c minor and e minor, very Chantey-like in character. Here I'm
trying to evoke the Chanteys that are sad and noble in character (_not_ like
"What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor" or the Gilligan's Island theme song!)

The last movement is slapdash, straight-out, in-your-face Ragtime, but adheres
only very loosely to classic ragtime form. All the tunes are original until the
very end when the French Horn belts out that great old favorite "Jolly Redwing"
over a dense, syncopated counterpoint in the other parts. Care has been taken
to give the bassoon and French Horn interesting music to play, not just the
two-step oom-pah, oom-pah all the way through, though there is some of that, by
necessity (the essence of ragtime being the syncopated "right hand" versus the
square "left hand.") This movement is a crowd-pleaser.

Do I sound like a salesman? Ah, but remember, I'm not selling anything. It's
all free (to a good home.)

A lot of the quintet is written with humor as a goal. Not so for "The Unicorn
and the Phoenix" which attempts to evoke something of the character of these two
great animal myths. The Unicorn movement is in 6/8, more or in less F major,
and depicts the purity, gentleness and charm of the creature, lightly galloping
in sunlight and later in moonlight ... at the beginning, the reed trio is
treated as a wind choir, answered and imitated by the piano, playing "choral"
chords ... then, gradually, the two forces (reeds and piano) find common ground
and play together. This movement is a re-composing of an earlier piece of mine
for solo piano, which you can get an idea of by viewing (and, if you want, even
downloading) it from my web site. Several other of my compositions, including a
suite for unaccompanied clarinet and a suite for clarinet and cello and a song
cycle for soprano and clarinet, can be viewed and downloaded there as well.

The Phoenix movement opens with a very slow dirge in f minor as the Phoenix
approaches the pyre. There follows a wistful, very sad 3/4 section, regretful
in character, and then returns to the dirge, seeming to end ... but then comes,
well, can you guess? Trills and flickering flames, rising and rising, and then
-- Bingo! The dirge motif is transformed, sounding once, very triumphantly, in
Bb major, as the Phoenix rises from the ashes.

The piece was written for the French clarinetist and recording artist Lucien
Aubert, who will premiere it in Paris later this year with his Trio D'Anches
Ozi. Klarinet subscribers who may want to acquire and perform this piece will
be asked to give M. Aubert the courtesy of performing the premiere. The date
has not been set yet, but I can let you know later.

If all this is intriguing to you, please e-mail me a note expressing your
interest, stating your physical address and whether you want both of the pieces
or just one -- if just one, state which.

When I send the pieces to you, I'll enclose an invoice for the photocopying and
postage, but this will be purely optional. If you're in the USA or Canada you
may pay this invoice or toss it, as you see fit. OK either way. I'll also
enclose a flyer which tells about the various recordings that have been made of
my music and how you can order them from me, if you're interested.

However if you're in another country, you'll still be at liberty, of course, to
pay the invoice or not, as you wish, but I'm really hoping you'll respect the
investment I've made in sending the score to you and seriously consider paying
the invoice. Overseas postage is expensive, as everyone knows.

But let me be clear: I'm not doing this for money, rather to try to find
serious clarinetists and wind-players and musicians in general with whom I might
connect.

I also have a newly completed quintet for clarinet in A and string quartet, also
written for M. Aubert, which he will premiere on June 6. After that date, I
will be glad to share this score with any of you on the same basis as above ...
let me know if you're interested.

Rick Sowash
Cincinnati, OH