Marcel Chyrzyński

Dance of Death

The Dance of Death for clarinet and piano was made in September 2013 for clarinetist Maciej Bosak. The premiere took place on 11.25.2013, during the XXI Encuentro Universitario de clarinet in Mexico, and the contractors were Maciej Bosak (clarinet) and Laura Elizabeth Hauer (piano). Introduced at the beginning of the song in the voice of a clarinet theme of death pervades the entire composition giving it cohesion, and introduces anxiety throughout the piece to create the impression of an obsessive dance. This impression is strengthened by the use of images in motorized repetitive sequences of hexadecimal, as well as frequent changes in registers. The majority of the Dance of Death is maintained in the dynamics of mf-f, which emphasizes the emotional turbulence of the composition, only the middle tranquillo introduces a moment of relaxation and retain the title, violent dance of death. The composer took full advantage of the technical capabilities and the timbre of the clarinet. The low register of the instrument perfectly expresses the mystery, while the use of the sounds of the highest scale emphasizes the drama. Like the Three Preludes for clarinet and piano composer does not give the compounds of tonality.

[Barbara Borowicz]