Burn
Concerto for Clarinet and Symphonic Wind Orchestra
Peter Meechan
Ensemble: Wind Orchestra
Solo Instrument: Clarinet
Grade: 5
Duration: 11:00
Year of Composition: 2011
Premiered by: Sheffield University Wind Orchestra (Tony Houghton, conductor; Linda Merrick, clarinet)
Date of Premiere: March, 2011
Publisher: Peter Meechan
Year of Publication: 2012
Publisher Catalog Number: PMM082
Available: Yes
How to Acquire: Publisher, Purchase
Links:
Solo B♭ Clarinet
Piccolo
Flutes 1,2
Oboe
Bassoon
B♭ Clarinets 1,2,3
B♭ Bass Clarinet
E♭ Alto Saxes 1,2
B♭ Tenor Sax
E♭ Baritone Sax
B♭ Trumpets 1,2,3
F Horns 1,2,3,4
Trombones 1,2
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Double Bass
Percussion (4 players):
1. Timpani, Egg Shaker
2. Glockenspiel, Egg Shaker
3. Vibraphone
4. Marimba
For Linda Merrick.
Program Notes:
Written for British clarinetist Linda Merrick, Burn was premiered by Linda in March, accompanied by Sheffield University Wind Orchestra (SUWO) conducted by Tony Houghton. The initial unaccompanied passage that opens the work was written during 2011’s “Arab Spring”, which dominated news reports of the time.
The haunting soundtrack to these newscasts (which were a strange cocktail of devastating, uplifting, angry, mournful, rallying and peaceful) was the calls to prayer.
There was no attempt whilst writing Burn (a title inspired by region’s climate) to directly imitate these calls to prayer, but certainly they had an impact on the opening passage of the work, and therefore the whole piece.
(Peter Meechan)