Burn

Concerto for Clarinet and Symphonic Wind Orchestra

by
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:

Web Page

Sample Audio

Perusal Score 

Instrumentation

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)