New Work For Clarinet And Wind Ensemble Burns Brightly, Joseph D’Auguste

New Work For Clarinet And Wind Ensemble Burns Brightly

Joseph D’Auguste New Jersey City University Carline L. Guarini Dept. of Music, Dance, and Theatre jdauguste@njcu.edu

Commissioning, composing, publishing and performing a new work for clarinet and band is an arduous task. Putting together press releases, sending emails, making calls, and creating social media buzz are all integral parts of the process; every last detail must be addressed before the composition of a piece even begins. Not many people can handle the heat of composing a piece at the highest artistic level, especially when combined with meeting strict deadlines and dealing with supporters, doubters, and everyone in between. Patrick J. Burns, however, did not freeze under the pressure. Instead, he produced a wonderful new work that shows both the tenderness and virtuosity of the clarinet and supporting ensemble.

Composer Patrick J. Burns (b. 1969) drew a total of twenty-five commissioning ensembles from every corner of the United States to jointly support his new work, Rhapsody for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble. The participating ensembles were told only that the new work would be between eight and ten minutes in length and would be completed in the fall of 2015. As to be expected from the renowned composer, conductor, publishing company owner, and professor (New Jersey City University and Montclair State University), the fire has been burning brightly as the project has come full circle.

Joseph d’Auguste: Having composed and arranged pieces for virtually every ensemble, why did you pick clarinet solo with wind ensemble for this commissioning project?

Patrick J. Burns: It’s an interesting thing that, as a composer, from early on you’re told that you should avoid writing for your own instrument since you know it best and you should explore other instruments and media. So, I intentionally avoided writing for clarinet since it is my primary instrument. Naturally I wrote for it within the context of other ensembles (woodwind quintet, various chamber ensembles, band, etc.), but never as a solo instrument until the RHAPSODY. I had a fine career as a young clarinetist and that career was developing nicely when a nerve problem in my right hand cut my playing career short. Having now established myself as a composer, I wanted to write a piece that I would love to have played, if I still had the ability. Also, there seemed to be a great interest in generating a new work for clarinet and band, as indicated by the number of participating ensembles in the consortium headed by NJCU, so it just seemed like the perfect time to write the piece.

JD: Rhapsody for Band was premiered with you directing the wind ensemble at NJCU. What is it like to conduct your own music?

PJB: I’m more or less indifferent toward my own music when I’m conducting it. I spend the great majority of time working on other composers’ music, and I actually prefer that to conducting my own work. But I don’t dislike directing my own pieces, either. I regard each piece of music as its own separate entity - much in the same way that each individual person is unique and different from any other. So when I conduct, I give my music neither more nor less attention in the preparation process, apart from the normal consideration one must give to a particular piece which may require more rehearsal time to polish for performance. If mine is the one which requires more, then so be it. But in general, as a conductor, I regard my music as valid as anyone else’s but not more so, by any means.

JD: Are there any composers that influenced your compositional style?

PJB: Oh yes, very many. I’m hesitant to mention them here because I know I will leave many out and I also may invite others to hear influences which may or may not be there. I will say that musical form is more important than harmonic vocabulary and overall style in relating a piece to an audience. If the form makes sense - that is to say, if the music unfolds in a way that allows the listener to follow all of the intricacies of a piece as they happen one after another - then the music will resonate with the listener. There are many great composers whose formal structures invite and lead the listener through pieces, but a few who impress me greatly are Ravel, Walton, Respighi and Rachmaninoff. Within the scope of the wind band, the elegance and beauty of Alfred Reed’s music has been a great influence. Reed was particularly good at giving life to the inner voices in a musical texture, a style trait of his that I first became aware of in high school. I’m sure that this technique alone has had a great effect on my writing.

JD: One vein that runs through your compositions is a great sense of color and emotion, as well as mechanical rhythmic gestures. Why do you think that is?

PJB: I don’t write music which can easily be broken, as I like to say. In other words, I want musicians who play my

work to really dig in and get to the core of each musical idea. I want my music to be inviting to the listener, of course, but I want the same thing for the performing musician and for the conductor who prepares my music in rehearsal. In order to do this, I have to keep people interested in the music at all times; at least that what I strive for. All composers want the same thing in this regard. And the best way for me to accomplish this is by highlighting great contrasts between intricate and precise rhythmic writing with beautiful and flowing lyricism. If things are too much the same for too long a period, everyone will get bored and tune out; even me!

JD: In Rhapsody for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble, each movement shows off either the extreme range, technical facility, or lyric quality of the clarinet. Was it your intention to touch on each of these qualities of the clarinet, or did the piece naturally evolve that way?

PJB: Yes, I wanted to get as much out of the instrument as I could in that 10-minute time frame. Having played many sonatas, concertos, and three-part works in general, I have noticed that very often the first movement of a solo piece is the most intricate and thoughtful of the three. Then, typically, you have a lyric second movement followed by a less intricate but highly entertaining finale. With Rhapsody, I decided to lead with the music which was least intricate up front, followed by the standard lyric second movement. The third movement is, by far, the most complex music in the whole piece, and it takes up about half the duration of the score. I think writing in this way gives the performer, and the audience, time to settle in and get ready for the real “work” which happens later in the piece rather than sooner. Again, thinking as a performer, I’d want to be warm and ready for the heavy lifting .

JD: What composition projects do you have coming up?

PJB: I’m taking a little break from writing now because, unlike many of my contemporaries, I do not feel that writing all the time is a good thing. Incidentally, Ravel believed himself a less-than-great composer, not so much because he was modest, but rather that he felt he did not write enough to be considered among the greats. (He wrote only 85 pieces in his entire life). But I think Ravel was great largely because he didn’t write that much in comparison with many other well-known composers. The same is true of the composers I mentioned earlier, by the way. But when they did write, they had a great deal to say.

So anyway, I’m finishing a small work for the Bloomfield Youth Band, a wonderful group I founded in 1986 and still conduct today. It’s our 30th anniversary season and I’m writing a little something for them. I love to orchestrate music from other media for band, so I may do something of Rachmaninoff or Germaine Tailleferre for band. Then after that I’ll have a bigger work for the fabulous Ridgewood Concert Band, one of the finest adult bands in the country. They and their terrific director, Chris Wilhjelm, have been such great supporters of my music over the years and have played much of what I’ve written. I wrote Soundtrack for them a few years back, and another work called Perfect Trip in 2003. I have another work in mind that they will premiere in the 2016-2017 season, which I know they will bring off beautifully - whatever it is! I’ll also be doing a piano reduction for the second movement of the Rhapsody, which should work quite nicely. I may do one for the whole piece, but I’m just not sure yet.

JD: Having had a prolific career as a composer, professor, conductor and clarinetist, do you have advice for composers who want to take on the task of writing a new work for clarinet?

PJB:: I may be showing my bias toward the clarinet here, but I believe that this instrument is, by far, the most versatile of all the woodwind instruments. There is basically nothing that it cannot accomplish in the hands of a master player. I could list all the reasons why, but no one has time for that. Suffice it to say that the clarinet offers the composer a massive palette from which to work in terms of range, dynamics, timbres (plural, as the registers are very different, one from another), idiomatic writing, etc.

JD: Rhapsody for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble will have upcoming performances all over the United States. It must be incredibly exciting to see your work recognized in this way. Do you think this work will become a staple in the repertoire for clarinet and band?

PJB: Of course I would love that if it comes to pass, but I couldn’t say. That will be up to clarinetists and directors to decide. It’s literally out of my hands now!

JD: Are there any places online where listeners can hear your works?

PJB: Why yes! I have a YouTube channel (Patrick Burns) which is very active. There, people can find all of my recorded music, regardless of where it may be published. Also, Bandworks Publications, the outfit I founded in 2010, has a very active Facebook page and website (www.bandworkspublications.com). My personal page on Facebook has lots of music that I post there, too.

Editors note: Patrick Burns has been a professor of composition at Montclair State University for many years and has been adjudicating the New Jersey Young Composers Contest for over five years and is one of the people responisble for starting this event with Robert Frampton and Andrew Lesser.