Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Thea Musgrave
Threnody (1997)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Commissioned by Victoria Soames
Programme Note
This work is about the powerful emotions engendered by loss. The famous medieval chant "Dies Irae" about the Day of Judgement is used as a foundation of the work. This chant is incorporated into a series of chords played extremely slowly by the piano (these chords are actually taken from the composer's setting of a poem by Georg Trakl in her Wild Winter): thus the three sections of Threnody correspond to the three lines of one verse of the medieval chant.
In the first section the chords are loud and implacable and interspersed with a misty figure that rises like incense in a great gothic cathedral. The clarinet, the "mourner", decorates the texture with an impassioned recitative.
In the second section grief erupts into turmoil and anger and this mood is echoed in the piano.
Eventually the music calms and the third section becomes a lament. This in turn merges into a coda where a quiet tolling bell-like figure in the piano and a softly rising scale in the clarinet suggest that the mourner has found peace.
The work was written in response to a request from Victoria Soames to commemorate the passing of her teacher, Roger Fallows.
Thea Musgrave
In the first section the chords are loud and implacable and interspersed with a misty figure that rises like incense in a great gothic cathedral. The clarinet, the "mourner", decorates the texture with an impassioned recitative.
In the second section grief erupts into turmoil and anger and this mood is echoed in the piano.
Eventually the music calms and the third section becomes a lament. This in turn merges into a coda where a quiet tolling bell-like figure in the piano and a softly rising scale in the clarinet suggest that the mourner has found peace.
The work was written in response to a request from Victoria Soames to commemorate the passing of her teacher, Roger Fallows.
Thea Musgrave
Media
Threnody (Vrersion for Cor Anglais & Piano)
Threnody (Version for Clarinet & Piano): I. Tempo libero
Threnody (Version for Clarinet & Piano): II. Agitato
Threnody (Version for Clarinet & Piano): III. Lamentoso
Erica Sinclair
Reviews
Musgrave is a natural melodicist with a beguilingly transparent handling of texture and a rakish, rhythmic flair. The richly contemplative Threnody is a case in point: a meditation for piano and clarinet which fuses medieval plainchant with syncopated interludes to create a unique form of Gregorian jazz.
12th December 2008
Discography
A Dramatic Journey
- LabelAlbany
- Catalogue NumberTROY1835
- SoloistRebecca Johnson (flute), Elizabeth Sullivan (oboe), Cara Chowning (piano), Jessica Lindsey (clarinet)
- Released15th September 2020
Chamber works for oboe
- LabelHarmonia Mundi
- Catalogue NumberHMU907568
- SoloistNicholas Daniel, The Chilingirian Quartet, Joy Farrall, Emer McDonough, James Turnbull, Huw Watkins
- Released1st February 2013
Chamber Music for Clarinet, Vol. 1
- LabelClarinet Classics
- Catalogue NumberCC0038
- SoloistVictoria Soames Samek (clarinet), David le Page (violin), Gabriel Byam-Grounds, flute; Matthew Sharp, cello; Mark Troop, piano