Work
The stars like years
for clarinet quartet
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About
The title is quoted from Nigel Cox’s novel The Cowboy Dog. In the novel, there is a poetic contrast between the constant presence of the landscape, and an elongated sense of time and space, set against the smallness of the concerns of the human characters. The music contains a similar juxtaposition of small detail against a spacious backdrop, and a warping of the listener’s perception of musical time.
The stars like years is dedicated to the New Zealand Clarinet Quartet, and I am especially grateful to the Quartet for their close involvement in the compositional process. There are varying degrees of notational freedom in the score, from very loose rhythmic specification, to sections which are improvised using sets of notated gestural materials. The music derives much of its energy from the tension between spontaneous performance and the written-out structural framework.
The stars like years was commissioned for the New Zealand Clarinet Quartet, with funding from Creative New Zealand.
Commissioned note
Commissioned for the New Zealand Clarinet Quartet, with funding from Creative New Zealand
Dedication note
for the New Zealand Clarinet Quartet
Performance history
31 Jul 2011: Performed by the New Zealand Clarinet Quartet (including Trio Solaris) at Depot Artspace, Devonport, in Auckland
06 Aug 2011: Performed as part of the ClarinetFest 2011 in Los Angeles, USA
18 Aug 2011: NZSM Hunter Series: NZCQ - Plight of the Dischords