shards
clarinet
‘cello
piano
julian grant
2008
shards clarinet in Bb ‘cello piano
julian grant 2008
1. diminishing returns p.1 2. on hearing an aria by handel p.10 3. my secret mongolia p.12 4. can we have a tango please mr. ogawa? p.14 duration 6 minutes the score is transposed
shards programme note
From 2000 onwards I have written a host of piano pieces, almost like keeping a little diary, or musical journal. The pieces are mostly tiny and have been collected under the title shivereens, which is an old colloquial Scottish term for fragment or shard. Some pieces are written on the spur of the moment, others are excerpted from longer works, or tangential jottings on musical ideas used elsewhere. shards consists of four of these pieces, dressed up for clarinet, ‘cello and piano. diminishing returns is a technical exercise where two little ideas, a motoric theme and a repeated chord figure are presented alternately, yet throughout the piece the repetitions shorten, diminish, and collide. The original material comes from my opera the uninvited from a market scene in south London that ends in a riot. on hearing an aria by handel is a little elegy in memory of a friend, Nancy, prematurely taken away by cancer, who introduced me to the music of Handel, and instilled a love of this music that has never left me. This little piece takes a shard from an aria from Ariodante (1735). my secret mongolia is a transcription of a tiny fragment of folksong heard on the Mongolian steppe at sunset sung and played on a morinxuur (horseheaded fiddle) by a tribesman. can we have a tango please mr. ogawa? was written for my eldest daughter, as when we lived in Japan, she was taken to school by a driver, Mr. Ogawa, who was a keen ballroom dancer and who played dance music in the car of a morning. Hattie liked tangos, and took to requesting them. I imagined a car radio that had many stations, all of them tuned to tangos; the piece jumps abruptly between different styles of tango.
 julian grant 2008
Â
.....shards..... 1. diminishing returns JULIAN GRANT
Allegro q = 132
Clarinet in Bb
Violoncello
p molto ritmico
Piano
5
Cl.
Vc.
p molto ritmico
p
Pno.
9
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
mp
sf
mp
sf
mp
sf
mp
mp
© JULIAN GRANT 2008. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
sf
2 14
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
Vc.
Pno.
Vc.
Pno.
sf
f
p
p
f
p
p
p
f
f
mf
f pizz arco
sf
f
mp
p
f
f
p
p
f
p
f
23
Cl.
mp
19
Cl.
p
f
sf
f sf
mp
mf
sf
mp
sf
mp
sf
29
Cl.
mp
Vc.
Pno.
sf
mp
Vc.
Pno.
Vc.
Pno.
sf
f
arco
f
f
38
Cl.
mp
pizz
34
Cl.
sf
3
4 42
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
p
fp
p
fp
45
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
48
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
fp
fp
f
fp
fp
f
f
51
Cl.
Vc.
5
p
fp
Pno.
p
53
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
55
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
6
56
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
59
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
f
sub.p
f
sub.p
sub.p
[5+4]
3
f
62
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
pp
66
Cl.
7
pp
Vc.
Pno.
71
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
Vc.
Pno.
pp
f
p
mf
[5+4]
p
f p
p
f
f
p
pp
p
arco sul G
mf
pp
76
Cl.
pizz
8
79
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
p
f
83
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
ff ff
ff
87
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
[4+5]
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
91
98
Cl.
Vc.
pp
ff
Vc.
Pno.
p
- vibrato pizz mf
101
Cl.
9
6 6 ff
Pno.
p
mf
10
2. On hearing an aria by Handel Adagietto e = 88 1
Clarinet in Bb
Violoncello
Piano
pp
arco
pp
sempre p
Vc.
arco pizz
Pno.
10
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
sim.
mp
pp intense
5
Cl.
JULIAN GRANT
11 15
Cl.
Vc.
quasi cadenza
Pno.
Vc.
Pno.
p
pp
Vc.
Pno.
23
Cl.
p
p
19
Cl.
a tempo
p
pp
12
3. my secret mongolia
1
Cl.
JULIAN GRANT
q = 72
p
Vc.
Pno.
6
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
marcato il melodia
mp
p
sim.
13
11
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
15
14
4. can we have a tango please, mr. ogawa?
rallentando poco a poco
very fast q = 160
f sf
sf f sf sf sf sf f
1
Clarinet in Bb
Violoncello
Piano
5
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
9
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
slow
p
p
p
rall.
p with passion
mf
JULIAN GRANT
mf mf
slow and sultry - rubato
rall.
fast, with abandon q = 132
13
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
ad lib.
pp
pp
pp crystalline
15
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
f
Vc.
f
sf
sf
gliss.
lunga
Pno.
f
ten.
18
Cl.
15
f molto vibrato
sf
f
16
22
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
p stacc.
sf
p
mf
Vc.
mp
mp
loco
p
mf
f
sf
sf
sf sf p
mp arco
Pno.
p
31
Cl.
sf sf
sf
suddenly much faster (presto)
pizz: swing it!
q = 168
Pno.
sf
p
Vc.
sf
sf
p
27
Cl.
p stacc. sf
rall.declamato
mf crescendo
mf crescendo
mf crescendo
34
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
Vc.
pizz
f
f
sf arco
sf
sf
Pno.
suddenly previous tempo
41
Cl.
q = 132
37
17
sffz
sffz
sf
sffz
sf
sffz
sffz
18 44
Cl.
Vc.
Pno.
Vc.
Pno.
Vc.
sffz
5
pp sec, leggiero
pp
sffz
5
sffz
5
Faster q = 160
Pno.
sffz
48
Cl.
5
46
Cl.
sffz
pp
pp
FINE: Beijing 26 Nov 2008