Clarinet Concerto

“[Dinuk’s] Clarinet Concerto is unique in its concept and approach to the instrument, and to the concerto genre in general. I trust it will be an incredible addition to the clarinet repertoire for generations to come.” – Kinan Azmeh

Clarinet Concerto (2018)

Duration: 28 minutes

Instrumentation: solo clarinet, strings, piano

World premiere: Halifax, Nova Scotia; March 21st, 2019; Symphony Nova Scotia, Kinan Azmeh, Jean-Claude Picard (cond.)

Commissioned by Symphony Nova Scotia, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Rockport Music Festival

photo credit: Symphony Nova Scotia

Composer’s original program note:

Part I – ‘Prologue: Foretelling’
Part II – ‘The Dance of Ancestral Ties’
Part III – ‘Flux’
Part IV – ‘Exile: The salt of bread and rhythm’
Part V – ‘Cadenza: Solitary Traveller’
Part VI – ‘Epilogue: Home in Motion’

This concerto for clarinet is part autobiographical immigrant story, part response to the Syrian conflict, and part exploration of the notion of ‘home’.

Kinan Azmeh and I have been close friends and musical travellers since our student days at both the Juilliard School and International House, New York City. Our ‘Art of the Duo’ project – a recital of original music for clarinet and piano – continues to take us to concert venues around the world. For me personally, our 2009 Middle East tour left an indelible impression. Particularly memorable were the two concerts in Kinan’s native Syria, in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo.

It seemed natural to me that this piece would become my response to what has transpired in Syria since that time. At the time of writing, the Syrian conflict has claimed 400,000 lives. Since the uprising began in 2011, over five million have fled their country as refugees, the Canadian government having resettled over 40,000 Syrians. At the heart of this music is the question of how one might define – or be forced to redefine – the meaning of ‘home’.

The solo clarinet represents ‘the traveller’, an individual in turns either in line or at odds with his/her environment(s). The concerto has an approximate duration of 27 minutes, comprising six episodes which are designed to run into each other without interruption:

Part I – ‘Prologue: Foretelling’ is a dark musical dream-sequence. The clarinet, beginning offstage, is heard in an anguished premonition of things to come.

Part II – ‘The Dance of Ancestral Ties’ celebrates a carefree childhood, with its essence deeply rooted ‘at home’ both geographically and socially.

Part III – ‘Flux’ destabilizes the traveller’s sense of security. There is a sense of dislocation.

Part IV – ‘Exile: The salt of bread and rhythm’ is a desolate response to the essay ‘Reflections on Exile’ by Edward Said, in which he quotes the poet Mahmoud Darwish. In Said’s words: “[Exile] is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.”

Part V – In ‘Cadenza: Solitary Traveller’, the clarinet is left alone to play a cadenza, or solo passage.

Part VI – In ‘Epilogue: Home in Motion’, the traveller learns to be ‘at home’ everywhere.

SCORE & AUDIO

perusal score & audio available upon request: wijeratneworks@gmail.com

Purchase clarinet part and score in PDF format – $30 USD (please allow up to 48 hours for email delivery)

'Exuberantly creative'

the New York Times

'An artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future.'

the Toronto Star

'A modern polymath...one of Canada’s
most sought-after classical artists'

The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra

'I'm a big fan of Dinuk. To experience the birth of a new piece of his is exciting.'

James Ehnes

'The [Tabla Concerto] is fantastic, complex, and brilliant.
The orchestration and solo writing are masterful. I didn’t
think one could pull off [such] a concerto, but Dinuk did.
I don’t know of anything like it. The audience went crazy
after it for good reason.'

John Corigliano

'[The] mesmerizing Sri Lankan-Canadian composer/conductor/pianist Dinuk
Wijeratne…proving his inestimable chops in all three disciplines while living up
to his creative reputation.'

the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

'He is representative of the best of a new generation of musicians
who work fearlessly in a variety of styles with flair and imagination'

Ara Guzelimian
Dean - the Juilliard School
Former Director - Carnegie Hall

'Dinuk Wijeratne is a musical force to be reckoned with.'

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

'Internationally acclaimed'

the North Sea Jazz Festival

'Compelling'

The Telegraph (UK) on the Tabla Concerto

'Dinuk Wijeratne continues to astonish us'

the Chronicle Herald

'Dinuk is one of the most gifted musicians I know.'

Bernhard Gueller
Music Director Laureate - Symphony Nova Scotia
Former Music Director - Johannesburg Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic, Nuremburg Symphony

'Young Dynamo'

the Coast

'[Dinuk] is a fabulous composer writing music full of energy,
expressivity, rhythmic complexity and non-stop excitement.
As a composer, conductor, pianist, improviser and experimenter
across various musical genres, Dinuk redefines what a classical
musician is and does.'

Christos Hatzis

'An artist internationally respected for his virtuosity and sensitivity'

the CBC

'Wijeratne's multi-disciplinary piano-playing sounds like
the work of an entire backing band....stretch[ing] his
audience's conception of how the instrument should sound'

Lebanon Daily Star

'[The] Tabla Concerto is a pioneering work of musical fusion,
a seamless integration of the most complex aspects of
North Indian Classical Tabla music into a totally Western model.'

Bernhard Gueller
Music Director Laureate - Symphony Nova Scotia
Former Music Director - Johannesburg Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic, Nuremburg Symphony

'Dinuk Wijeratne’s Tabla Concerto is a breath of fresh air
in the repertoire – a vibrant, colourful piece that orchestras
love to play, and audiences will never forget.'

JoAnn Falletta
Music Director - Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra & Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Principal Conductor - the Ulster Orchestra

'Remarkable piano artistry....he has an enviable touch'

the California Chronicle

'Wijeratne’s extraordinary setting was the last of three concerts featuring
works commemorating Bishop. Not only interesting but apocalyptic - an
exciting whirlpool of energy and tranquility, marking the impact of Portuguese
steel on Brazilian rainforest and aboriginal humanity, and rising in its latter
stages to an apotheosis of movement and drums. The music was a brutal
exposition of colonialism at its nastiest, yet colourful, exotic, vividly original,
and sent over the top by the last section.'

the CHRONICLE HERALD on 'Brazil, January 1, 1502'

'Dinuk embodies the true meaning of an artist. His creative
approach to composition brings a fresh virtuosity to an age old
art form. Invisible Cities is a milestone in the genre.'

TorQ Percussion Quartet

'Voraciously curious, indefatigably adventurous,
Dinuk is an artist who appears to be constantly
challenging himself.'

Sri Lanka Sunday Times

'[Love Triangle] is the kind of direction I like to see composers who are writing for chamber music go in.
What [Dinuk] is able to do so expertly is articulate a mix of sounds, and a mix of worlds.'

Roman Borys, the GRYPHON TRIO

'[The] East-meets-West work bristles with the energy of a coiled spring,
fuelled by a near-impossible melting pot of Indian tabla-like dance rhythms,
funky jazz riffs, tonal clusters and extended instrumental techniques. It left
the impression one had just journeyed into the heart of a strange new world
of breathtaking beauty and joyous energy, and it earned a rousing standing
ovation by the bewitched crowd.'

the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS on 'Gajaga Vannama'

'One of the most exciting compositional voices in this country right now.'

the CBC (2023)

'The Tabla Concerto [is] an east-west fusion at once beguiling, deeply serious and joyous.
Wijeratne creates an entirely original soundscape.'

The Guardian, UK