A Flick of Lights

for solo bass clarinet plus hidden clarinet and soprano

Premiere: 1 March 2009

Bass Clarinet Andrew Uren
Mezzo-soprano Claire Scholes
Clarinet Anthony Young

The Committee presents… Time’s Past
The University of Auckland ClockTower

Programme Note

This piece was inspired by a most mundane and unremarkable occurrence that you may well ignore – like a flick of lights. Was it a signal, or was it accidental. If it wasn’t an accident, what would have happened if I had responded. Maybe something wonderful, maybe not. Was it meant for me? Was it meant for anyone? Could things have gone sour? All these things plunge through the mind, but no one will ever know.

Performance Notes

A Flick of Lights is in a single movement primarily for solo bass clarinet, but with two other hidden parts for effect. These two are much simpler than the bass clarinet solo. The hidden parts (clarinet and soprano) can be included in the programme (as in first performance) or excluded from the programme (as in the second performance) if a surprise for the audience is desired.

Hidden parts should be or should sound distant. At the premiere was in the University of Auckland ClockTower in the reverberant stone chamber at street level. The soloist was ‘in the round’ in the middle of the audience, but the hidden performers were on the floor above about 15m or so down a hallway. In that reverberant space, that was the distance necessary to achieve the desired effect, but other performances have just had the hidden parts ‘offstage’.

Audio

Recording of premiere performance.