This clarinet trio was inspired by two ideas. First was my perspective from my own apartment. Skyscrapers, bridges, Central Park, and construction outlined the melody of my piece, given to the clarinet. Shadows and overlaps between these structures formed the cello and piano parts for the first movement. Most of the pitches are based on the octatonic scale beginning on C. In the second movement, the inspiration comes from a very different source. “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” by the French composer Olivier Messiaen gave me the idea of unison between the voices, which served as the perfect contrast to the busy, opposing voices in the first movement. Altogether, I pictured the loud, busy life I might see if I was right below a cloud and looking down, while on the other hand, a full and unified blue sky would be seen if I just looked up.
Take a listen to this piece on SoundCloud here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-28081890/right-beneath-the-clouds
Photograph titled "Parade of Clouds" by Asfia Jawed, published in our May 2018 issue.
Leave a Reply