Grand Serenade
| for
Clarinet, Cello, and Piano
November 9, 2007--January 20, 2008
Last movement, September 2019 Duration: about 22 minutes |
Recording by Fred Jacobowitz, clarinet; Bonnie Thron, cello; and Tom Warburton, piano Introductory
talk (from November 2008) video (YouTube) from Feb. 28, 2012 concert (note; this has a different last movement, since discarded.) Legal-size
is only for paper printing; letter-size is well suited to electronic
music readers or paper. The "EMR" parts for cello and clarinet are only
for electronic music readers and include the rest of the score in
reduced size. Letter-size: Cover Score, PDF Parts EMR parts: EMR Clarinet EMR Cello
1. Overture Allegro [6:46] MP3 recording Wav file (CD quality) 2. Romantic Interlude Largo [7:18] MP3 recording Wav file 3. Serious Scherzo [6:12] MP3 recording Wav file Capo di tutti capi; Slow Trio; Tempo I 4. Little Finale with Loose Canons [2'] Allegro con brouhaha |  |
 |
Fred Jacobowitz, a clarinetist here in Raleigh, asked
me to consider writing something he could play with his wife
Bonnie Thron, an accomplished cellist. He noted that there are
several couples in the area of clarinetists married to
cellists, so it seemed like a very good idea. So, this piece
is dedicated to Fred and Bonnie. There were originally three
movements, but after the premiere of that version, Bonnie and
Fred asked me to add a finale. I
wrote one by mid-August 2008, but did not find it to my taste. After many years,
I replaced it with a short finale in 2019. (This would usually be much longer
than its two minutes, but age has caught up to me, and this is all I can manage
now.) The original score and parts were on legal-size paper. In 2022, I made a letter-size edition that is well suited for either electronic music readers or paper printing. Then I made parts for clarinet and cello specifically for electronic music readers, with the part enlarged and the rest of the score reduced. |
Fred
Jacobowitz received his Bachelors
and Masters degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied
with the late Leon Russianoff. He made his New York Debut at
Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Hall) as winner of the Artists
International Competition. He was a featured soloist on radio
stations WBAI and WQXR in New York City, with the Goldman Band,
and in recital throughout the Metropolitan New York area. As a
chamber musician, he has participated in the Marlboro Music
Festival and played in the Verrazano Winds Woodwind Quintet in
Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Jacobowitz was Principal Clarinetist in
the Annapolis (Maryland) Symphony Orchestra from 1989-2002. He
is equally at home in the worlds of Classical, Jazz and Folk,
having performed and recorded with his Kol Haruach Klezmer Band
(www.kolharuach.com) and his duo, Ebony and Ivory (www.ebonyandivory.ca). He has performed as
recitalist and soloist throughout the US and Canada and in
Panama. Mr. Jacobowitz now resides in Raleigh, NC, where (when
not performing out of town) he teaches and freelances, and he
can often be heard playing concerts with his wife, North
Carolina Symphony Principal ‘Cellist Bonnie Thron. He runs his
own business, Case
Closed (www.case-closed.us), fixing musical instrument cases and is a
sometime Little League Baseball Umpire.
Bonnie Thron; Principal cellist of the North Carolina
Symphony, Bonnie has been a concerto soloist with many
orchestras in North Carolina, New England, Maryland and Panama.
She has been a soloist and frequent collaborator with the
Brussels Chamber Orchestra during their summer North Carolina
residencies. Bonnie plays with the Mallarme Chamber Players and
was involved in their latest cd release "Songs for the Soul"
which consists of music by African American composers. Formerly
a member of the Peabody Trio and the Denver Symphony, she also
performed with the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble and Speculum Musicae
in NYC. She has been a frequent guest artist with the Apple Hill
Chamber Players in her home state of New Hampshire and
participates every August in the Sebago Long Lake Music Festival
in Harrison, Maine. As well as degrees from the Juilliard
School, Bonnie also has a BSN from the Johns Hopkins School of
Nursing and worked for several years as a nurse in
Baltimore.
Thomas Warburton, pianist, has lived and performed in the Triangle area since the fall of 1969. In 2005 he retired after 36 years on the music faculty of the University of North Carolina. He has performed in solo and collaborative recitals in a variety of venues, especially California, Michigan, Ohio, and New York. He has been associated with the Mallarmé Chamber Players since 1993 and appears on three of their recordings including a recent CD of T. J. Anderson’s Spirit Songs with Bonnie Thron. He regularly substitutes as organist for churches in Durham and Chapel Hill. He has given first performances of music by a variety of American composers including T. J. Anderson, William Albright, Sydney Hodkinson, and most recently Allen Anderson, who wrote “Some Ragged Spots” for him in 2009.