Composer: Kościów, Aleksander, 1974 -
Country of origin: Poland
Title: Liber sub cortice scriptus na klarnet I kwartet smyczkowy (Book Written Under the Bark for clarinet and string quartet)
Other titles:
Movements: Ingressio; Charta Prima; Charta Secunda; Charta Tertia; Egressio (see comments)
Year(s) composed: 2001
Publisher: Unpublished
Duration (in minutes): 20
Clarinet type: B-flat
Note: See comment below; Images of mvts. V and IV of score
Movement titles complete:
Ingressio (legendum): INITIUM FESTIVITATIS NUNTIATUR; Charta Prima: LUCUS SACERCharta Secunda: IUNGITE RAMOS, SUSTOLLITE BRACCHIA!; Charta Tertia (legendum): IN MEDIO TESCORUM OS EST CORTICEUM; Egressio: FOLIUM FOLIO VERBA TRADIT
Liber sub cortice scriptus was commissioned by the Warsaw Music Meetings, 2005. The score/parts available from composer.
“… this idea/idiom within I used to write ca. 2000 somehow inspired and enchanted with a mysterious spirit of gnosis and a “tasty nature” of what books were like (and what they were) in medieval times. Hence, partly due to my then-fascination with this mysterious context and partly due to my style preferences of that time, the piece is painted mostly with tonal (or rather modal) harmony with a considerable contribution of melody-versus-chords texture, occasionally highly contrapuntal (in an almost classical, or baroque-like guise), still using some extended-sonority technique (e.g. in mvt. IV) but solely to emphasize the “idea” of the musical picture instead of presenting the effect for the sake of themselves. In the second movement one can find an example of a sort of aleatoric technique I often used to create a ‘wilderness’-like atmosphere, here as a background for clarinet solo.” Aleksander Kościów