My wife was at a concert which featured a sonata for clarinet and viola and really liked the combination so I decided to try my hand at a trio including the piano. Compared to most works this year which have been often pretty doleful, this, although varied in mood, is in general more upbeat and ends with a vigorous rondo which is almost neoclassical in character. It also has a firmer tonal base to the extent one can say it's in F# minor. I put it on my Reelcrafter page for anyone who might want to try it out.
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I tried it out. I'm sure there's a lot of good music there; unfortunately not much jived with me. Seems I'm just not the right audience for lengthy, contemplative chamber works; I'm more partial to bombastic Beethovenian works with lots of drama and stürm und drang. But then again, I was working while listening in the background; perhaps I should give it a more honest try some other time when I can listen more attentively.
I did notice there were what sounded like some artifacts of computer rendering; perhaps if this were performed by a real trio it would sit better with me? Some of the accompaniment figures, for example, sounded a bit awkward because they lack the intonation/articulation a human player would have put into them. Just a thought.
Hi HS -- well that's a pleasant surprise that someone with a very different musical taste and attitude to composing even had half a listen to this, though I wouldn't really expect you to enjoy it. I would dispute that it's lengthy -- most Beethoven chamber works are longer than this and indeed this is one of my most compact. The rondo theme is also pretty extrovert. But it is probably fair to say that the general mood is somewhat whimsical and contemplative. If you like more drama and Beethovenian Sturm und Drang, it's just possible you might on better with one or two of my earlier symphonies such as nos 4-7 but you will search in vain for a single fugue (fugato yes but no real fugues) in my output.
With the accompaniment figures, I guess you're referring to the viola as the piano and clarinet seem generally OK to me. The Chris Hein library is a bit problematical with medium length shorts as the tone depends on the exact note length and can easily get smudged. If you have particular places you felt things were really bad, by all means tell me and I'll have a look. Was indeed planning to check out a few myself.
I feel like such an idiot right now... you wouldn't believe what happened, I clicked on your link and it just started playing -- I thought, your trio above -- but as it turned out, it was actually playing your string quartet no.1. 🤦
I was going to listen to it again today, and then in the middle of it, glanced at the title of what's playing (you'd think I'd have done this when I listened to it the first time!) and noticed that it said "string quartet no.1" instead of "trio". And then it dawned on me that I'd been listening to the wrong thing all along. So my comments really applied to your string quartet no.1 rather than the trio. My bad.
So now I'm listening to the actual trio... will comment later.
the first quartet is at the top of the list because it's the first chamber work I ever wrote over 30 years ago. Everything on the reels is listed roughly chronologically so to get most recent works, you need to go to the end. Now I'm worried that when you listen to the Trio, you'll like it even less
(the quartet no.1 does have one or two fans in fact despite being rather primitive in many ways)
Oh dear, now I'm feeling even more like an idiot, because I just picked the first track named "trio", and now that I look at it again, it's not the one referred to by the title of this discussion. Instead, this is the "trio for piano, violin and viola" (yeah, another facepalm moment for me -- clearly I'm not paying attention, since the title of this discussion clearly says clarinet, and I'm not hearing any clarinets... I'm really out of it, it seems. :-/ So sorry for this needless embarrassment). But nevertheless, in spite of it all, I'm actually liking the quirkiness of the 1st mvmt here. The unexpected moments, the surprise twists. Most of it, actually. Even though it's not the kind of music I usually listen to (this may surprise you, I don't only listen to fugues :-D), I'm actually liking it quite a bit. Well probably because it is more traditional in terms of harmony, I'm thinking.
OK, so now to finally remove my big stinky foot from my mouth, I'm going to make sure I click on the right track now: trio for clarinet, viola, and piano. Not quartet, not any other trio... c'mon, brain, work with me for once. :-P OK, now this is sounding more like your description. More modern in harmonic language and overall idiom. Let's see how it goes this time...
Wow, I'm actually liking some of your viola melodies. Though I confess I feel quite lost with some of the stuff in between, the viola melodies do stand out to me as quite well-written. Some of the clarinet parts were quite nice too. Also liked the overall quirkiness, the sudden transitions. The low register of the piano sounds kinda muffled, though. Especially the low register chords, I'd expect to have a coarser "ring" to it than the rounded-out sound you have here. But that's just nitpicking your VST, nothing really to do with the music itself.
Anyway, there's enough interest here that I'm feeling like I should come back to listen to it again a second time. After listening to your string quartet no.1 one and a half times (totally by mistake :-D) and then your other trio in addition to this latest one, I think I'm starting to acclimatize to your musical language. Who knows, maybe I'll even start liking it after all, in spite of myself!
well, well, who knows how many of my pieces you might accidentally discover while listening to the wrong ones! The first movement of the one you're supposed to listen to is perhaps indeed the quirkiest and I'm not completely convinced by the initial theme (I actually find the rather unpresumptious 2nd group better). It mellows a bit in the other movements.
But anyway, I'm glad you seem to be making progress and of course I'm very grateful you're making so much effort.
just in case there's anyone who listened to this and got something out of it but didn't like the viola tone, I've now updated the file with a different instrument and somewhat different programming which helps to make the tone rather more expressive (esp. the second movemment) and less mechanical. As well as dozens of other misc corrections the past few days.
Hi, David - You made something atmospheric, but at the same time it hands to the listener an engaging stream of ideas with a healthy amout of textural variety. I don't have this experience often but I did with your trio. I first listened when you opened this discussion, but didn't want to comment until a second listen. I thought you moved from one stage to the next seamlessly, making this feel comfortable and unjarring despite the bounty of ideas cotained int it. Poulenc is good at this, too. Also, a sonically enjoyable rendering. --Ray
Hi Raymond -- it's very interesting your mentioning Poulenc as if there's one work of mine which seems to have some affinity with him, it is indeed this one. In general, my chamber works with piano do have a bit of French influence as Faure is my favourite composer of chamber music with piano (above all the 2nd piano quintet which is my favourite chamber work by any composer) but the greater eccentricity in places here is perhaps more reminiscent of the younger composer. Anyway, do appreciate your listening.
I haven't been around much here, so missed this when you first posted it, but I enjoyed it. Especially in the more contemplative parts, the sonorities formed by the three instruments often seem very sensitive, and there is some nice polyphony here too. The more aggressive final rondo was a welcome change of pace as well. As far as being on more secure tonal footing, well... there is a lengthy, almost diatonic passage in the 2nd movement that I found quite moving, and if certainly ends in F# minor, but forthe most part it still inhabits a very chromatic, late Romantic sound world where I would be hard put to name the home key.
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