A composition for clarinet and live electronics

Toon Quanten is a clarinetist who, as part of his master's thesis for the conservatory, organised a clarinet recital on September 2, 2015, for which he asked composers whether they would like to compose a piece for him. The composers who agreed to do so were R. Groslot, P. Vermote, M. Van Ingelgem, G. De Bièvre, K. Lauwers, J. Van Landeghem, W. Vande Ginste, J. Van Paemel, T. Quanten and D. Veulemans.

Beweging

Quanten is a lively musician and received constantly commentary on this during his training. Movement therefore became the theme he chose for this creation recital. This also explains the title of this composition: Take U. The letter U describes the curve in which the clarinet had to be swung violently from left to right during the first movement. Inspired by a well-known jazz title that describes the beat of the song, I had placed a reference to the movement in the title here.
Nice touch: with a little good will, you can also hear the initials T.Q. in 'Take-U'.

Three parts

The composition is a combination of live electronics, a prepared soundtrack and clarinet. I divided my composition 'Take U' into three parts:

1. First TQ has to move to generate music with his kinetic energy. No movement? Then there will be no music. The music is the storage of this kinetic energy in an imaginary flywheel. And for that, a lot of work has to be done. Swinging the clarinet is necessary to produce music. This is achieved through hard- and software. The sound is like that of a steam engine under pressure, producing kinetic energy. There is work to be done and there is pressure and hissing.
2. There is a brief resting point, like a stone being thrown upwards. It also has a brief resting point before starting to fall. This resting point is there in TakeU when the energy supply is stopped. The energy has reached a peak. The multiphonics indicate this brief moment.
3. Thereafter TQ must not move anymore or it will generate disturbances (the granulation on the score). The imaginary flywheel that was charged in part 1 is now turning and must not be disturbed. It turns at an almost constant speed and gradually returns the energy that was stored in it. Until it stops in the end.

Organ version

I also made a version of the third part for a MIDI-controlled pipe organ.

laatste update: 2021.07.15