Tauranga Concerto - Bb Clarinet & Piano

It was in Tauranga, New Zealand, that I bought my friend Ian Scott’s CD of British clarinet concertos, listened to it, and spontaneously began this work.

1. Perambulation
This movement reflects the contentment of domestic life in a quiet suburb of Tauranga with my partner, soprano Sharon Elizabeth, and the serene happiness of our early morning walks in the local nature reserve.

2. Kaimai Sunset
The Kaimais are nearby mountains; we often watched the sun setting behind them. A romantic melody is allowed to develop and increase in passion with the intensity of the colours of a Kaimai sunset - here a metaphor for the surgings that passionate love is prone to.

3. Baycourt Jitterbug
We saw a musical show at Tauranga's Baycourt Theatre containing a dance number entitled "Jitterbug", which gave me the idea for the concerto's finale - a jazzy movement reminiscent of the Swing music of the 1920s and 30s. In the unaccompanied cadenza the soloist muses on the tunes he has just played, like a dancer left alone on the dance floor after the band stops playing who carries on dancing to the music in his head, tentatively at first but with growing confidence until he runs out of energy. A bluesy moment ensues, leading to a wistful recollection of the lyrical second theme of the first movement, before the band strikes up again and the dance resumes. In an unexpected coda the "Kaimai Sunset" melody returns in the guise of a fast rumba!