(2021)

for bass clarinet

Program notes

''Sombra' is a Spanish word meaning both 'shadow' and 'shade' — the latter term being the one the title of this piece refers to. For a variety of reasons, my compositions during the months leading to this piece had a particularly strong focus on the clarinet, which offered me fantastic insight into the instrument and changed the way I approach it in my creative work. The most transformative of these experiences was my involvement in Scott McLaughlin's research project 'The Garden of Forking Paths', focused on the exploration of indeterminacy and material agency in clarinet composition. Through this project, Scott and close collaborator Heather Roche challenged composers to engage with clarinet multiphonics not as fixed blocks of sound, but rather as fluid and dynamic elements; and encouraged the exploration of this technique into its more inherently unstable situations in order to access new, unique and unexpected sonic environments.

​​

For this work, I aimed to explore the emergence of different degrees of instability through the opening of vents in otherwise very stable fingerings. Helped by clarinettist Ben Pinto, we examined the sonic possibilities of this approach and the different 'shades' and colours that result from the disruption of stable notes, which provided the stepping stone for the development of this short piece.

​

Additionally, on a more personal level, this was a work of great significance to me at the time of writing: it is a piece about uncertainty and doubt, but above anything, it is a piece about change.

​​​​

Duration: c. 4'

Performance

28.06.2021 – RNCM Concert Hall (Manchester, UK)

        Performer: Ausiàs Garrigós Morant