Spencer Brand

This work was commissioned by Dr. Dana Sloter of Drake University and follows the Iowa prairies through the different seasons of the year. The first movement depicts the colors of fall and the crisp breeze that blows across the prairie. The second movement captures the winds of winter and the freeze deep in the earth. The final movement follows the thaw into spring and the final burst of warm summer.

 

The sonata draws on three baroque forms as the basis for each movement. The first movement is a fantasia that freely explores colors, textures, and tricky interplay between the clarinet and the piano. A ground bass extremely low in the piano range serves as the unifying feature of the second movement, where the pianist plays the ground bass in the left hand, plucks/strum the strings with the right hand, and the clarinetist is free with multiphonics and other effects. The final movement is generated by variations of the principal theme that is used throughout the first two movements. It evolves through constant variation, growing into the lush fullness of summer. 

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Listen to each of the movements below!