Oregano I: Oregano
II: Oregano I: Oregano II: Oregano I
I have written two chamber works
previous to this including clarinet; Quartet
for a New Beginning, for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and Grand Serenade for clarinet, cello and
piano. While most of my chamber music includes piano, sometimes I like to get
away from it for a bit. At first I intended to write a clarinet quintet for the
usual clarinet and string quartet, but from the first few measures the music
insisted on an extra cello. So—I went with the flow. In July 2012, I decided to expand the
sextet by adding a double bass part and thus make it a work for clarinet and
string orchestra. Then in 2014, I thought that the second and third movements
could stand alone as short works for orchestra. Curious Interlude is the third movement of Clarinet Sextet. The instrumentation is for winds in pairs (first
Flute doubles Piccolo), two horns, two trumpets, tuba, timpani, and strings.
While the tuba is not generally used in an orchestra of this size, and might
complicate getting the piece performed, the music demands its inclusion; there
are passages where no other available instrument will suffice. Accidentals
hold through the measure and not beyond, and do not refer to other octaves.
Sometimes I include courtesy accidentals to avoid confusion. While almost all
my earlier orchestral scores are concert pitch (C scores), this score is transposed.