About the Music

We thank the composer for sharing this program note about water underground for bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, trumpet, and piano:

water under ground for bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, Bb trumpet and piano is a work in three movements, framed by a simple, melancholy theme that opens the piece, returns at several points along the way, and finally closes it. Like water moving unseen beneath the surface, the theme is never far away, even when the music above it seems to be doing something else entirely.

The first movement opens with the theme in the soprano saxophone. Flowing gestures led by the bass clarinet follow, drawing the music toward a quasi-jazz section in which short, quick-witted ideas pass between the instruments. The whole sequence then repeats without the theme, as though the music has already moved on from where it began.

The second movement begins with the theme in the trumpet. A new melody is then passed between trumpet and saxophone, each phrase surrounded by small silences. Beneath it, the bass clarinet sounds a low, repeated note like a distant foghorn, while the piano murmurs a quiet melody in its highest register. The central section turns to the bass clarinet, whose long melody is supported by the other instruments. The trumpet and saxophone exchange returns to close the movement.

The final movement is the most turbulent. The saxophone restates the theme, and the bass clarinet answers with a melody marked con fuoco, supported by low piano notes. When the theme returns in the trumpet, the bass clarinet interrupts with angry gestures. Two melodies then work together and build to a climax. At last, the theme is stated by saxophone and trumpet together over quiet, dissonant gestures in the bass clarinet, and the piece ends as it began, with the water going back underground.

Piano Score: 23 pages, spiral bound. Parts; 4 pages each, booklet. Extended-range instrument NOT required for bass clarinet part.

Hard Copy Edition

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About the Composer

Virginia Elizabeth Samuel started as a violist, studying with Dorothy DeLay and Scott Nickrenz at the New England Conservatory, performing solo and chamber music throughout the US. In 1988 she was only the second woman gaining a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Harvard University, studying with Donald Martino, Leon Kirchner.

Her composition awards include the Walter Hinrichsen and the Lakond prizes from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Boston Chamber Ensemble Competition first prize; Friends and Enemies of New Music Competition first prize; 2019 VIOLA Competition for American Women Composers first prize; a New Jersey Council on the Arts Fellowship and an international performance award from the CAMP Festival, Hong Kong.

Her commissions include ones from EARPLAY, the Michael Foundation, and the Peabody Trio, and she is published by Henmar Press (C.F. Peters Edition) and Alea Publishing. Her music has been widely performed internationally, and is available on the Ravello and Arabesque labels.