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John McCabe ‘Fauvel’s Rondo’. Linda Merrick (Clarinet), Kreutzer Quartet, Aaron Shorr, piano. CD featuring previously unrecorded works by John McCabe including the newly-commissioned Clarinet Quintet , ‘La Donna’. Guild GMCD7369

This project is a continuation of my ongoing commissioning of over 40 new solo and chamber works for clarinet over the past 15 years from composers with whom I have always then collaborated closely in preparing the works for performance. It also builds on the outcomes of the research I undertook for my PhD, published as Collaboration between Composers and Performers: British Clarinet Concertos 1990–2004 (Saarbrücken, 2009), in which I examined the role of the collaborative process in developing performances of new works, and this informs all my professional practice as a clarinettist. In this project I commissioned an eminent composer who had not previously been willing to discuss his compositional philosophy in public, or to collaborate with artists prior to the completion of his works. The Kreutzer Quartet and I were able to persuade John McCabe to work closely with us throughout the rehearsal, live performances and recording of his new quintet. I designed the schedule to allow time for experimentation and trying out of alternative readings and interpretations of passages, during which we were able to refine technical details, tempos and dynamic indications. Whereas McCabe had initially been concerned that intervention by the performers on this scale could undermine his artistic integrity, as our collaboration unfolded it became clear that this was a mutually beneficial process, enabling him to convey his expressive intent for the work, and empowering us in our quest for an authentic realisation. The première of the quintet was preceded by an open rehearsal and a public Research Forum in which the composer, together with me and the quartet’s leader, reflected upon our collaboration, presenting different views on the advantages and disadvantages of the approach we had taken. The recording reflects the insights and intensity of this collaborative creative process.