Cerha - 8 Stücke for three clarinets

Ernst Ottensamer, the first clarinettist of the Vienna Philharmonic, telephoned me in autumn 2012 to ask me if I would be inclined to write a concerto with orchestra for him and his two sons (both of them excellent clarinettists). At that time, instrumental concertos had again become foreign to me, but the three clarinets were tempting. I recalled a piece for several clarinets by Hanns Jelinek which had especially impressed me at the recording of his “twelve-tone” piece on LP in the 1960s, and my imagination began turning over options for writing music for this instrument which I love so dearly, in multiples.

The 8 Pieces differ greatly in character; they take advantage of all ways of playing – from flowing, legato cantilena to capricious, sometimes caricaturing staccato. For the most part, the forms are the result of rhapsodic development; there are no reprises and almost no motivic relations. There is a Toccatina, in which the three voices scurry eerily by in equal note-values, as quickly and quietly as possible, perpetually crossing over one another, creating a wavelike motion. A plaintive Elegy is followed by an exuberant Burlesque, suggestive of commedia dell’arte. A lyrical song of farewell forms the close; for a long time now, I have had an aversion to sensational fortissimo closes – almost all of my works of late end pianissimo.

Friedrich Cerha

Translation by Grant Chorley, 2013