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This site is home to Alea Publishing & Recording, specializing in music for the bass clarinet.
We offer a growing catalog of creative, artistic transcriptions and new works for bass clarinet solo & ensemble.
About the Music
We thank the composer for sharing the following program note about his piece Lament for bass clarinet and marimba:
Deep grief. Profound sadness. Feelings so immense that words do them no justice. It is at such junctures that artists often turn to abstract creative endeavors to facilitate processing the pain. There is frequently no option. As with the navigation of grief, this music has hopeful and even joyous moments. But despair is never far from the surface. Throughout the Lament the bass clarinet takes on the role of the mourner. The melodic lines are at times sad, confused, hopeful, prayerful, or even playful. There is a continuous sense of searching, for answers, for reasons, for a resolution that can never be. The marimba offers solace, empathy, compassion, and distraction to the dolorous melody. A tone of sorrow is established by the marimba with its evocative minor key introduction. The aria begins as the bass clarinet presents a plaintive expression of the main melody. Soon, a rhythmic mood settles in, the bass clarinet yearning and searching for answers, as the marimba offers support with jazz inspired harmonies. There are hints of melancholia, of nostalgia, even a very brief waltz, as the feelings spin freely. The tale ends as it begins, with a return to the opening sound world. A return to plainly stated sorrow, unadorned, pure, simple. After a final tender plea, bringing the bass clarinet quietly to its highest range, it descends to the depths, where it hoovers, pondering.
Duo score: 11 pages, spiral bound. Part: 3 pages, loose leaf to facilitate page turns. Extended-range instrument required for bass clarinet part.
Listen to the premiere, performed by Amy Advocat (bass clarinet) and Matt Sharrock (marimba) at the 2023 Alba Music Festival, In Alba, Italy:
Hard Copy Edition
Add this item to your cart if you wish to have the hard-copy music shipped to you. The composer has also authorized the sale of this piece via PDF download: click here to choose that option.
About the Composer
New Orleans born composer Terry Vosbein has received numerous commissions to write works from such organizations as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art. He has composed works for orchestra, wind ensemble, various chamber ensembles, and choir. He has written works for jazz bands of all sizes. And his compositions have been performed all over the world.
“Stunning” is what jazz writer Will Friedwald wrote in the Wall Street Journal about Fleet Street, Vosbein’s second release with the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. It is “full of surprises and is infused with a sense of humor that adds a special dimension that is too often missing in contemporary big band writing” (Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz).
Vosbein is the founder and curator of the Stan Kenton Research Center, the only center dedicated solely to the music and career of the legendary big band icon and music educator. And he is the co-leader of the Vosbein Magee Big Band, an ensemble made up of the top musicians in the area, performing his compositions and arrangements.
When not spending his summers composing in exotic corners of the world, Vosbein is a professor of music in beautiful Lexington, Virginia. He received his Masters in Composition from James Madison University under the tutelage of John Hilliard, and his Doctorate in Composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a student of Donald Erb. He resides in Staunton, Virginia with his wife, Shannon, and their Siberian husky, Luna.
Vosbein’s music is available at maxfrankmusic.com
Kim Davenport
President
Duo Alea, the father-daughter duo of Michael and Kimberly Davenport, began performing music for bass clarinet and piano in 1996. As performers searching for new repertoire and teachers working with students eager to develop as performers, it quickly became clear that there was a need for more repertoire featuring the bass clarinet. Filling this need became the mission of Alea Publishing & Recording.
Since our first publication in 1997, the Alea catalog has now grown to include over 300 titles. We pride ourselves on the accuracy and quality of our sheet music, as well as our ability to ship directly to customers around the world.
We are proud of the diversity of our catalog in terms of the inclusion of works by composers and arrangers from around the world. We are interested in continuing to expand this diversity, representing musical ideas from around the world.
Following Michael's passing in 2019, Kim has taken over solo management of Alea Publishing. In 2020, Alea established the Dolphy Prize, an annual composition award for new works for bass clarinet by black composers.
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