stiff upper lip (2014, rev. 2018)

for bass clarinet
written for Andrea Nagy
commissioned by Andrea Nagy, with kind support of Hildegard Blum-Lüning
15′
première May 23, 2014 at the Clarinet festival Carte Blanche III, Temnitzkirche Netzeband, Germany

Edition Juliane Klein Order No.: EJK0725

Score Preview (Publisher, pdf)

I shared an apartment in Montréal with a clarinet player, Hilary, who also had a dog, Joey. Often Hilary would play her bassclarinet and Joey would sing with it. Joey would mirror the register shifts of the clarinet with her howls. Their duet always had a strangely emotional impact on me.

Waxing sentimental – glissandi on the clarinet have always affected me in a similar manner. In this piece I explore glissandi on the bass-clarinet, and analytically grapple with my immediate emotional draw to this technique.

Annesley Black, 2014