About the Work

Program note courtesy of the composer:

The two pieces for bass clarinet duo began life in a small sketchbook where the ideas were developed by hand before committing them to being typeset. The resultant pieces are written in an advanced, modern idiom, making use of contemporary techniques, with fingerings provided for the more atypical parts. Inspired by meteorological phenomena, each takes a contrasting approach to exploring the force of nature in the wind, ranging from the gentlest breeze to the raging tornado.

The first piece, entitled A Cross-Breeze Surges, represents the determination of the wind to overcome man's attempts at directing air flow. The bass clarinetists take on an almost antiphonal role suggested by two open windows at opposite ends of a room. The through-breeze is interrupted by a sudden gust, capable of slamming doors. The second piece, Tumult of Amber and Rain, is a more rapid, agitated piece of a shorter duration. The title was formed from a combination of two provisional titles, Tumult of Straw Nestsand Whirlwind of Amber and Rain. This turbulent piece explores the violence of a powerful whirlwind, and it is possible for the listener to hear an almost growling sound.

Extended-range instruments required for both parts. Duo score: 29 pages, spiral bind.

About the Composer

British composer Andrew March was born in 1973. In 1992, he attended the Royal College of Music, London, to study composition. Shortly after graduating, Andrew won the Royal Philarmonic Society Composition Prize 1996 for his symphonic poem, Easdale. His orchestral piece Marine - à travers les arbres (1997) won first place in the inaugural Masterprize International Composing Competition, and was recorded by the BBC for the European Broadcasting Union and by the London Symphony Orchestra in Abbey Road Studios for EMI Classics Debut Series. A cover-mount CD was included on the BBC Music Magazine in 1998. Marine - à travers les arbres has been played by orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic and has received a total of 13 international live performances including the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and the European Union Youth Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy which was televised for the BBC Proms in 1998.

In 2001, Nymphéas for Two Pianos was written for pianist brothers duo Peter & Patrik Jablonski, who gave the World premiere in the Royal Palace, Stockholm, in the Autumn of 2002, and then followed with a tour that programmed the piece in and around Scandinavia. In July 2005, A Stirring in the Heavenlies (2000) was successfully recorded, in full, by the Kiev Philharmonic under composer/conductor Robert Ian Winstin for the landmark 12-CD series Masterworks of the New Era.

In 2009, Andrew composed an elegy for strings, Sanguis Venenatus which was recorded in the Czech Republic and released towards the end of 2012. The elegy has subsequently been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and internationally, with repeat airings during drive-time programmes on stations such as Sweden's P2 Klassiskt, Estonia's Klassikaraadio, and South Africa's Classic FM.

In October 2013, Three Pieces for Solo Cello were premiered in New York by Romanian-born cellist Ovidiu Marinscu at the Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall. The three pieces were also recorded. Also in 2013, Paraclete Press published De Profundis. In 2015, Colla Voce Music published two pieces, Marian Antiphon No. 3 and How Long, O Lord?. In January 2016, Amoration for Piano and Strings was recorded at the MRTV studios in Skopje with the Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra.