Composer
[ London, UK ]
Large ensemble/choir (8) Chamber - Wind (11) Chamber - Other (16) Songs (6)
The Storyteller
Written in 2014
The Storyteller
Solo Bb Clarinet
12 minutes
Difficulty level: Student or professional
This piece was the result of a discussion with clarinetist Peter Cigleris, for whom it was written, about the nature of solo performance on a instrument such as the clarinet. I suggested that perhaps they could be heard as telling the stories to the audience. I was reminded of the essay by philosopher Walter Benjamin which has the same title, and in which he explained that the art of storytelling was being lost as a result of widespread literacy and the rise of the novel. The same change has not happened in music. I was also reminded of the Legends, a set of orchestral pieces by Dvořák. However, whereas Dvořák had specific folk tales in mind, I have no idea what these stories are about, and audiences can make up their own minds about the four separate stories 'told' to them by the performer.
The performance material is designed so that the performer can set the four stories up on separate music stands, and move from each one to the next. Bridging passages are included to permit this. The score will be available here once the piece has been premiered.