The Soul Awakens Clarinet Concerto

The Soul Awakens is a clarinet concerto in 3 movements, in the vein of Copland and Finzi.

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Mvt. 1

Mvt. 2

Mvt. 3

What others are saying:

“If Ralph Vaughan-Williams and Mahler had a love child… This movement is so delightfully dense with musical wit and whimsy – and humanity. Keep up the great work!” Baumel

“Very nice! I really enjoyed that. The start of each movement suggests you’re going off in a different direction, but then you always come back to the genre you started in. Especially in the third movement do I see that most strongly, where the start seems Stravinski-inspired. I loved that opening of the third movement!” TiceTunes composer

“2nd listen at 5 in the morning… I’m not hearing Stravinsky as much as I’m hearing Copland on the 2nd movement… Same kind of heartfelt, serene beauty as his clarinet concerto… It’s really beautiful man! I hope it gets played, I would definitely have this in my collection if someone proper did a recording of it… ” Bollen

“This is a very accomplished piece of music. The textures, the composition, the clarinet part were top-notch. I liked the second part, where the long notes (on the strings) play the harmony, and clarinet dances around them playfully. I pictured a meadow with a girl gathering flowers and dancing to the wind.” Crusoe

“Listening to it, one understand you know something about composing, but production as well. Impressive work.” Fatis

“There where some lovely moments and interesting scoring…It sounded remarkably English in places too for some reason.
The 2nd mvt. had a more continuous feel for me and was better for it. I felt it had a nice emotional arc – very beautiful in many places with a nice restraint in the harmony and scoring that didn’t make it cloying. Nice to hear too that it had more quirky moments.
The 3rd is the best for me with some lovely contrasted writing and bitey (is that a word?), Poulenc/Stravinsky-ish ideas. I loved the cycle of 5ths that popped up. This mvt. worked best imo because there was a more obvious, consistent, prolonged musical thought process in play, which helped comprehension even on a first listen.” M. Hewer

“With each subsequent audition the structure and development of the tune reveals itself. It is an exquisite work, easily the best thing of yours that I’ve heard. The word mercurial comes to mind…probably because it makes me think of Mercury from The Planets. This is not just a work of skill, there is obviously love in this thing. I cannot say anything better than that.” T. Champe

“I was overwhelmed by the first listen because of the musical content. The three parts show another soul, a different spirit in a most creative way. Without leaving the basic style, you managed to create in the movements a different ambience in which the clarinet plays an important part. It shows how you master the instrument in its technical abilities, without getting too cerebral. Everything remains listenable and musical, a great achievement in a piece of that scale. The second listen confirmed my first impression and proves your musical freedom: not lead by one particular style or way of writing, tied to one or other composer or teacher.” J. Wylin