Klarinet Archive - Posting 000101.txt from 2007/12

From: Jeffrey James <jamesarts@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Steven R. Gerber Duet for Solo Clarinet Available for Listening and
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:23:32 -0500

For Immediate Release:
December 20, 2007
Contact: Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
(516) 586-3433 or jamesarts@-----.net

Steven R. Gerber Duet for Solo Clarinet Available for Listening and Download

Steven R. Gerber’s Duet for Solo Clarinet is available for listening and
download. Its main section is a double fugue - yes, a double fugue for
solo clarinet. You can listen to Peter Furniss’ performance of Duet in
the MP3 streaming section of
http://www.morgensternsdiaryservice.com/WebProfile/furniss_p_1167.shtml#.
The score can also be downloaded at http://www.stevengerber.com/scores.htm.

The composer describes the work as follows:

“Duet for Solo Clarinet was written in 2005 for clarinetist Alex
Fiterstein. It is a one-movement work, about 7 minutes long, in three
sections: Prologue, Double Fugue on Themes by Robert Parris and Yehudi
Wyner, and Epilogue. The Prologue and Epilogue are identical except for
their last note, and they introduce the "duet" concept by alternating
two kinds of material, very fast notes in the lowest register and
lyrical phrases in a higher register. The fugue is also a duet in the
sense that it is in two voices and contains two themes; these themes
come from two composers whose work has meant a great deal to me ever
since I was a teenager. The first theme of the fugue takes a five-note
phrase from the Trombone Concerto by my teacher and mentor, composer
Robert Parris, and extends this phrase with five more notes. After a
climax, a six-note phrase from the Serenade by Yehudi Wyner (winner of
the 2006 Pulitzer Prize) is introduced and extended, treated fugally,
and then finally combined with the Robert Parris theme. I have tried to
keep the two themes and the two voices distinct by separating them in
register and, sometimes, dynamics or articulation. Since a clarinet
cannot play two themes at once, the way I have combined the two fugal
ideas is to interrupt one of them with part of the other and then to
alternate between the two.”

Inquiries about Duet for Solo Clarinet can be directed to Jeffrey James
Arts Consulting. Contact them at 516-586-3433 or jamesarts@-----.net

Steven R. Gerber’s music has gained international attention as a result
of three CD releases (on Chandos, Koch and Arabesque), featuring several
of his major orchestral works, including the Symphony No. 1, Clarinet,
Viola, Violin and Cello concertos and Spirituals for Orchestra. Of the
Clarinet Concerto, the Washington Post wrote, “The world premiere of
Steven Gerber's new Clarinet Concerto... [was] an important musical
event. Written for Jon Manasse,...the evening's soloist, the concerto is
the work of a composer whose idiom is a coherent and logical amalgam of
centuries of musical thought.”

Mr. Gerber has written for a number of other fine soloists including
Yuri Bashmet for the viola concerto, Kurt Nikkanen for the violin
concerto and Carter Brey for the cello concerto. His work has been
performed by groups such as the Louisville Orchestra, Knoxville Chamber
Orchestra, the Fine Arts Quartet, the National Chamber Orchestra and the
Russian Philharmonic. Read the Fall 2007 edition of his Online Update
newsletter, including information about the new release of Spirituals,
(Arabesque CD Z6803) at
http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/oct07/SG_nws_100107.htm. Visit his
website at http://www.stevengerber.com.

He is represented by Jeffrey James Arts Consulting. For a CD sampler of
Steven R. Gerber’s music or more information, contact them at
516-586-3433 or jamesarts@-----.

-30-

--
Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
45 Grant Avenue
Farmingdale, NY 11735 USA
Tel: 516-586-3433
E-mail: jamesarts@-----.net
Website: http://www.jamesarts.com

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