Composer’s Notes:

This work was composed primarily in 2019, commissioned bySren-Filip Brix Hansen and Den Kongelige LivgardesMusikkorps. First performance, June 5, 2021 at Strekassenin, atthe Royal Theater in Copenhagen, Denmark, with GiordanoBellincampi conducting. (Premiere postponed because of theCOVID-19 pandemic.)

The work is subtitled “Murmurations” which refers to the flightpath of a flock of starlings, swirling in the sky. In a sense, the soloclarinet is a “solo bird” and the other members of the orchestra”flow” and “flock” in “murmuration” around and in reaction to theflights the soloist takes. The work is inspired by the flowing andfearless musicality which is my friend Sren-filip Hansen.

Throughout the composition, I had his beautiful tone (in everyregister) and his expressive, rhythmic sense in my ear. Like a birdleading a flock, his clarinet leads this large (and somewhatunweildy) ensemble in flight.