SKU: SU.94010763

Dedicated to Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet, New York PhilharmonicClarinet Duration: 5'30 Composed: 2020 Published by: Subito Music Publishing PROGRAM NOTE: The year 2020 has definitely been a very challenging year with many upheavals. During this time of the COVID-19 health crisis, wearing masks, and high racial tensions, I decided to compose four short solo woodwind works for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, which represent the core woodwind section in an orchestra. I was inspired to compose these short pieces after I first heard Igor Stravinsky's three short pieces for clarinet, which totals a little more than four minutes in duration. I thought that it would be nice to highlight and honor my African-American male colleagues in the orchestral music world. I wanted to celebrate the fact that they are the principal player in the section of their respective orchestras. The short pieces are as follows: Principal Brother No. 1 for flute solo for Demarre McGill, Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Principal Brother No. 2 for oboe solo for Titus Underwood, Principal Oboe of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Principal Brother No. 3 for clarinet solo for Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, and Principal Brother No. 4 for bassoon solo for Bryan Young, Principal Bassoon of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. These works all begin with notes that are representative of their name; D for Demarre, B for Titus (ti in solfège starting on C), A for Anthony, and Bb for Bryan. There is also a rhythmic figure in the opening measures of each piece, which represent the utterance of their names. All four of these works are rhapsodic in nature with elements of improvisation. - James Lee III.

SKU: ST.Y214

ISBN 9790220221293.

1st perf: Douglas Mitchell, Clare Hall, Cambridge, 26 October 2002

Morgan Hayes's Totem, for B flat clarinet, is a short, single melodic line that in its brief duration challenges players of Grades 7 or 8 standard or above to encompass widely contrasted dramatic and lyrical moods within the primitive vision of its title. The composer had no specific ethnological source in mind when composing this piece. Rather, his aim was to suggest the complex rhythms and rituals of tribal life, remote in time from the sophistications of the modern world, but in spirit closer perhaps to our own than we might care to imagine.