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Duo Concertante

(2004)

  • Solo Clarinet in Bb (doubling Bass Clarinet), Solo Accordion + Ensemble: Flute, Clarinet in Bb, Percussion (1 player), Piano, Violin, Cello

  • Duration 20 min.

  • First performance on January 16, 2005, in Dublin, Ireland by Gareth Davis, solo clarinet, Elsbeth Moser, solo accordion, Concorde Ensemble: Ríona O Duinnín, flute, Paul Roe, clarinet, Elaine Clark, violin, Annette Cleary, cello, Jane O'Leary, piano, Richard O'Donnell, percussion and Dermot Dunne, cond.


The overall form of this chamber concerto is quite simple. The work begins with a fast-moving tutti passage followed by the clarinet’s solo cadenza. After that, a still and statically vibrating passage takes place, a slow movement ended by the solo cadenza of the work’s other solo instrument, the accordion, which in turn leads the music to a new fast section. The third cadenza is a duo cadenza for both solo instruments. The work is concluded by a short coda. The overall form of the single-movement work Duo Concertante can be interpreted as an imitation of the fast-slow-fast structure of the multi-movement classical concert. TR, 2006


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Die Makrostruktur des Kammerkonzertes ”Duo Concertante” für Soloklarinette, Soloakkordeon und Ensemble ist ziemlich eindeutig. Das Werk beginnt mit einem bewegten Tuttu-Abschnitt, der von der ersten Klarinettenkadenz abgeschlossen wird. Daran anschließend folgt eine sehr ruhige, statische Passage. Dieser ”langsame Satz“ wird von der Kadenz des zweiten Soloinstrumentes, dem Akkordeon, beendet. Diese Kadenz führt die Musik in einem aufs Neue bewegten Abschnitt. Die dritte Kadenz wird gemeinsam von Akkordeon und Klarinette ausgeführt. Abgerundet wird das Werk von einer kurzen Coda. Die Makrostruktur von ”Duo Concertante” kann als Imitation der Satzfolge schnell-langsam-schnell des mehrsätzigen klassischen Konzertes interpretiert werden. TR, 2006 (Übersetzung: Andrea Carola Kiefer)


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"Finnish composer Tomi Räisänen was one of three important guests of the contemporary music ensemble Concorde at Sunday afternoon's concert in the National Gallery.

The other two were the soloists - accordion player Elsbeth Moser and bass clarinettist Gareth Davis - for whom Räisänen composed the work that was receiving its première on this occasion, his Duo Concertante. The 20-minute piece showcases the dedicatees by alternating ensemble sections with cadenzas, one for each soloist and one for both together.

In his cadenza, Davis enacted what was like a conversation between a deep, bull-froggy voice in the bass clarinet's lower register with a sweeter voice above. Moser's accordion cadenza was more flowing and lyrical, while the joint episode produced some quite intriguing matching of sonorities between the two instruments."

Michael Dungan, The Irish Times, 18.1.2005

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