Suite for Clarinet and Cello (2019)

1. March for the love of chocolate oranges with great affection and admiration to Sergei Prokofiev

2. Flight of the Winged Messenger with homage to Gustav Holst

3. Sunset Music in memory of Peter Sculthorpe

4. Tex and his amazing ropes a tribute to the Vaudeville years

The Suite for clarinet and cello was written for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's chamber players series as part of my year as composer in residence with them in 2019, and was officially premiered by Philip Arkinstall and Rachel Tobin in the Iwaki Auditorium on the 2nd of June, 2019. The work had a trial run at the Sydney home of the dedicatees Di Haskel and Ken Robinson earlier in March the same year by my wife Trish on cello and myself on clarinet.

Starting this suite for my two favourite instruments was a moment of great joy following the completion of my clarinet concerto. From endless numbers of lines in the score to just two was such a relief.

The first movement started life as a tribute to one of my heroes... Sergei Prokofiev. It seems his music just continues to grow on me and his influence on me is endless. The quirky fast march rhythm that starts the movement reminded me somewhat of any number of his quasi marches and this one just grew and grew from various games and rhythmic variations I could drag from that opening bar.

The second movement is in humble tribute to Gustav Holst. I am a huge fan of The Planets and am always saddened that so little of his other music gets much airtime and even less concert time. My favourite moment of The Planets at the time of composition was the third movement scherzo, Mercury, the Winged Messenger. Breathtakingly scored and conceived from beginning to end, the thoughts of the music that whooshed through my head as I was writing gave me endless inspiration.

The third part of the suite is in memory to the great Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe who we all owe an enormous debt of gratitude to for all that he forged in the world of music on our behalf. The music is peaceful, plaintive and suggests a few Sculthorpe motifs in honour of the great man.

The Suite then ends with a bit of fun. I was walking along a street in Melbourne after hearing my wife play in a rehearsal of the Francaix String Trio and my head was full of extraordinary Vaudeville motifs and images. Thanks to an hour on google that followed, I found a rather brilliant and now forgotten character - Tex Glanville. What he could do with a pair of ropes beggars belief! So the Suite finishes with a romp through the world of Vaudeville, and a time that was more filled with humour and entertainment than our world today.

Paul Dean, 2019