The Sleep of Reason Brings forth Monsters

This short piece for clarinet and piano was written in 2006 to a commission from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for their publication Spectrum for Clarinet. The piece was inspired by Goya’s eponymous etching in which a man sleeps while owls and bats flap menacingly around him. By analogy, this piece begins calmly but becomes increasingly agitated and menacing until the clarinet part is dominated by fluttering tremolos. 

The work was premiered on 29 September 2006 at Kneller Hall by Ian Mitchell (clarinet) and Thalia Myers (Piano).

Philip Grange