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Stephen McNeff, Clarinet Concerto

The key research imperative in this project was to explore how a close and extended collaboration would influence the development of this, the composer’s first work for solo clarinet. McNeff’s intention was for the concerto to be highly virtuosic for the soloist, but accessible to a range of wind ensembles of varying abilities and size. Early drafts of were altered in response to my feedback about its feasibility for the instrument (see portfolio/I). The ‘preview’ performance of his first complete version of the score (completed in February 2005: see portfolio) with the Satakunnan Wind Orchestra, a professional wind orchestra based in Pori, Finland led McNeff to undertake a significant number of revisions based on my suggestions, to address balance and stamina issues, and make the solo writing more idiomatic for the instrument. Examples include: lightening the orchestral scoring in places; inserting rests and additional bars of tutti to make space for the soloist to breathe; and creating a number of ossia passages where the solo writing was overly complex and unconvincing in performance; these can be seen in the two versions of the solo clarinet part (see portfolio/2]. The première of this version was given on 15 May 2005 with the Southwark Concert Band, the large amateur community ensemble who had co-commissioned the work. Further performances with ensembles of different sizes and varying abilities produced a few further revisions. To test whether these would be effective when playing with a smaller group of advanced performers, I convened an open rehearsal with a semi-professional group, Birmingham Symphonic Winds. Based on this experience, I made several more suggestions and the composer made further final refinements to dynamics and articulation, and these were incorporated in the published score (see portfolio/3) and implemented on the present recording, made in April 2008.