Op. 50 – Silver Spring

Clarinet quartet (3 clarinets, bass clarinet)

  1. Moderate and expressive
  2. Moderately fast

At some point I decided it would be a good thing to have a work for clarinet quartet that was not a rag. Silver Spring is in two contrasting movements, the first lyrical and dreamy with some moments of intensity, and the second one with a rock beat to it, though still retaining an introspective mood. The harmonic language is basically tonal, with some excursions into 5-29 territory.

Silver Spring is named after the Maryland city on the edge of Washington, D.C. where I was walking on the day that I finished this work. On that walk, I encountered a small triangular park marking the location of the actual spring for which the city is named.

The work is of moderate difficulty, and should hold no technical difficulties for competent amateurs. An arrangement for community orchestra is in preparation.