Composed: 2011 Duration: 5 mins.
Instrumentation: Oboe & Piano Level B, Oboe & Piano Level C
Exam Grade: HSC Oboe
ISMN: 979-0-720114-83-5 Catalogue: RM886
Level: B, C Country: Australia
Contents: Kingfishers, Forest Walk, Mountain Rain
Contents: Kingfishers, Forest Walk, Mountain Rain
Contents: Bach Goes To The Bahamas, Geronimo's Groove, Gone Troppo!, Silly Samba
The theme for this work is taken from Andy’s composition “Latin Sunset” that was written for his “Play clarinet with Andy Firth book 1”. The theme is stated and then as is traditional, undergoes a series of progressively more challenging settings: triplets, semi-quavers and so forth. There is a lovely slower section to calm the energy of the first series of variations before the soloist is sent in to overdrive once more for the last series of variations which culminate in a somewhat flashy written cadenza. The finale arrives and as expected the oboe is propelled into a series of arpeggios and rapid runs and patterns. This work is set at advanced level but an oboe soloist of 6/7th grade level should handle it well without too much trouble. In the 2nd variation after the main theme, see if you can spot Andy’s little musical quote...
The Australian recorder player Jo Dudley commissioned this brief, virtuosic solo.
Ulpirra is an Aboriginal word meaning pipe or flute. It has been performed and recorded on many different treble instruments apart from the recorder: piccolo, flute, oboe, B-flat and E-flat clarinets, a special version for bass clarinet with handclapping accompaniment in Enyato IV, and soprano or alto saxophone.
Being short and snappy it is especially useful as an encore piece for recitals.
Contents: Herbie's Journey, Heaven's Steps, Dracula's New Shorts, Cha Cha Boom
I Wonder Why, Eat My Shorts Dance, My Neighbour's Pool, Half a Dozen
Contents: Shuffle Over Here, We Don't Tango Here, The Minor Issue, The Boogie Woogie Woogie, Funkability, Be Bopaphobia
This piece, a flight of fancy for clarinet and piano, comprises three sections, each lasting about a minute or so. The first section kicks off in an energetic and cheerful way with the bright, upper registers of both instruments at play. Also evident in the opening section are ideas such as angular melodic lines played in unison, a little harp-like piano accompaniment texture and a contrasting theme fashioned atop a jazzy, dance-inspired bassline. The middle section of the work is perhaps the more unearthly music of the work. Little updrafts and whirlwinds of tinkling, glockenspiel-like piano figurations add a haunting quality to a chromatically inflected clarinet melody, evoking, for me, images of night and a kind of magic. The final section of the piece – which brings us back to earth with its recapitulation of earlier material – is characterised by the sound of its ‘slow-to-start’, hand-cranked engine.