Works > Musical Offering (for bass clarinets)

Musical Offering (for bass clarinets)

Musical Offering (for bass clarinets) was commisioned by the bass clarinet duo Sqwonk. They may be the only one, I don't know. In order to solve this some-what absurd assignment, I challenged myself by writing a complex canon, in which the second voice is transposed a half-step higher than the first voice. Further, the following voice gradually cuts out notes, so that it "catches up" to the leader. This means that it begins quite a bit later from the initial voice, but eventually is only a few notes behind, still a minor second higher, until the two voices end up in unison.

Composing a strict canon in this manner is only difficult if you care about how the end result sounds. Anyone can invent a process and then plug notes in and just live with the result. The real challenge comes when you are trying to fit these absurd requirements into a tonal framework. And then make it sound good for bass clarinets.

By the way, this piece could easily be reworked for just about any two instruments. So if the need ever arises, I may do just that.