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The album was inspired by a work by the one and only... Peter Schickele (aka PDQ Bach) who wrote a piece for 9 clarinets called Monochrome III. A few years ago, I was experimenting with some digital multi-tracking equipment and was able to record all 9 parts myself just for kicks. Well, since then, the equipment has been improved, the recording technique solidified, and this teeny little do-it-yourself thing has ballooned into a full fledged commercial album of works for clarinet quartet, sextet, nonet, and clarinet choir... And the amazing thing... I am the one performing all the parts, and it STILL sounds musical! I know a few people who have done recordings in a similar manner, and the end result is something very cornered and metronomic. That's certainly NOT the case with this CD.

Other works on the album are Yvonne Desportes' "Characters for Clarinet Sextet", "Adagio Expressive" from Gerard Bertouille's Concertino for Clarinet Quartet, Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings arr. for Solo Clarinet & Clarinet Choir" and Desire Dondeyne's "Clarinet Symphony for Clarinet Sextet".

"Characters" is a 6 movement work designed to highlight the 6 major instruments of the ensemble. Each, thus, representing a particular character. The Eb Soprano is the Welcomer... Contrabass Clarinet is the Loner... Bass Clarinet is the Cool Cat, or the Nonchalant... Alto Clarinet is the Hothead (who'd have thought)... 2nd Bb Clarinet is the Dreamer, and finally... 1st Bb Clarinet is the Joker. It's a nice starter to show off each instrument in particular before diving into the other 4 works on the album.

The next piece, Bertouille's Concertino for Clarinet Quartet has been somewhat of an underground work. In fact, it's not even *really* published. Bertouille's music is represented by the Center for Belgian Music Documentation, which - instead of officially publishing the work - has released a score of what looks like copies of a pencil draft of the piece. Important things are even left out... like dynamics on the first page. The bass clarinet part was still written in Bass Clef. This work was a real challenge to make work in its entirety, but the "Adagio Expressive" - the 1st of this two movement work - was just too beautiful NOT to record.

Barber's Adagio for Strings has long been a favorite among classical music lovers. This arrangement was originally scribed by Lucien Cailliet for a full sized clarinet choir with Ab and Eb soprano clarinets as the solo/melody - YUCK! Since Ab clarinets are, like, non-existent... unless you have a lotta money and have ears ready to handle it's nasty piercing sound, I modified this version for Solo Bb Clarinet. In terms of balance in the ensemble, it was well transcribed, so making a number of edits and revisions, and putting Bb as the soloist warmed it up a bit. And I added a little personal flavor to it in the middle. What would another Barber Adagio be without a little personality to it?

And lastly, Dondeyne's "Clarinet Symphony" is the finale. This is a standard 3 movement work written like any other symphony... It's actually my favorite work on the album. It's just... masterfully composed. Mr. Dondeyne really knew how to work with the colors of the clarinet and figure out how they could blend to give a symphonic sound with such few performers. The piece, published by Billaudot in France, was dedicated to clarinet master Guy Dangain.

Although the works are not "new" (as in, they were composed an published 1 to 2 decades ago) the album is actually a world premiere recording of all of these works. So... like I said previously... it's a must have for your CD collection! The CD may be ordered with credit card by clicking the order button below.