Bagatelle for Clarinet

Description

Bagatelle for Clarinet

For clarinet and piano
Duration: 1’30

The “Bagatelle for clarinet” is a transcription of my same work for trumpet.
Scot Humes was gracious enough to help me edit this, so that it would be suitable for clarinet.

The original program notes, for trumpet, are as follows:

In the spring of 2004, I was commissioned by Marc Reese (trumpeter, Empire Brass) to arrange and compose several works for a recording project. These were to include music from Mussorgsky/Ravel’s Pictures at An Exhibition (Il Vecchio Castello), Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (2nd movement) and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms (2nd movement) and a new piece, entitled Sound and Fury, (though I liked to call it “Reese’s Piece”).

However, at the completion of all the above, I felt there needed to be another piece: a short recital opener or encore.

The Bagatelle is just that. It is brief, brisk and to the point, meant to highlight Marc’s ease at getting around the instrument. The accompaniment is most of the time short and quirky, though sometimes suggesting Bach. The piece ends almost before it starts, with a harmonic question mark intended to surprise all who are listening.

Jim Stephenson