David J. Matthews

Clarinet Quartet

My Clarinet Quartet, which I wrote in the early months of 1984, is in two sharply contrasted movements. The first, a theme and variations, begins by alternating allegretto sections, which are dominated by the clarinet, with slow, sustained music for the string trio. The two types of music are next superimposed; then all the material heard so far is swiftly recapitulated in more complex superimpositions, like a dream flashback, before the last, slow variation. The second movement, which is much shorter, is for the most part a fast and furious scherzo. Its momentum is finally halted by a soft intrusion of the first movement’s theme, and the quartet ends slowly and quietly. The work was commissioned by the Nash Ensemble with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain, and first performed by them, with Michael Collins playing clarinet, at the Wigmore Hall, London, on 4 July 1984.ybr>David Matthews