A Romance for Clarinet and Piano
My Romance for Clarinet and Piano was one of my early compositions (1983, revised 2017). It abounds in lyrical melodies and Romantic feeling, yet there is a quasi-classical orderliness underlying it all. I had the great fortune to record the work with the highly gifted clarinetist Kristi Hanno about two and a half years ago, and this video lets you follow the score along with that performance.
The A section includes two contrasting thematic areas in different tonal centers, somewhat like the exposition of a classical sonata; however, while the a-theme is in the expected tonic (E-flat major), the b-theme is centered on the subdominant (A-flat major) instead of the usual dominant. The B section presents a new, melancholic melody in F minor (i. e., ii in E-flat major), which eventually climaxes on an extended B-flat harmony (i. e., V in E-flat major). This long dominant leads back to the final A section, where both the a-theme and b-theme are now presented in the E-flat tonic. The polarity between subdominant and tonic is thus resolved, in much the same manner that dominant-tonic polarity is resolved in the recapitulation of a classical sonata.
One of the most compelling parts of the piece is the Coda, where the a-theme and b-theme are interwoven contrapuntally. The writing here is very sensuous, with rich harmonies and the clarinet dipping deep into its chalumeau register at the end.
