ICHI
for TWO CLARINETS
Duration: 1 minute
Ichi is a miniature for two clarinets, dedicated to clarinetist Thomas Piercy. It has been submitted in response to a call for scores for his consideration and will become available to the public after the selection process.
In this work, the two clarinets take turns outlining some of the tone clusters associated with the shō, a traditional Japanese mouth organ. In the ancient court music of Japan, the shō typically plays a limited collection of these tones, creating a distinctive harmonic backdrop.
Above this shifting bed of arpeggiated tones, the clarinets introduce melodies based on the Iwato scale, a Japanese scale traditionally associated with supernatural or otherworldly events in theater music. The result is a brief musical evocation of an ancient world, reimagined through the voices of two modern instruments.