Composer: Pritchard, Gwyn, 1948 -
Country of origin: England
Title: Realms Apart for clarinet in B - flat and string quartet
Other titles:
Movements:
Year(s) composed: 2018
Publisher: Berlin : Verlag Neue Musik, [2018] ©2018
Duration (in minutes): 10
Clarinet type: B - Flat
Note: See comment below
Commissioned for three 70th birthday celebration concerts in Germany.
First performance: Stadtbibliothek, Essen, Germany 2018; Ensemble Crush
Source: Composer
The reason for the title of this piece is clearly evident from the very defined, opposing musical positions occupied by the clarinet on the one hand and the quartet on the other: when one is high the other is low, when one fast the other slow, and so forth. It falls into four clearly defined sections, and only for a few seconds between them do all five players unite in homogeneous materials.
Composing a piece with a structure stated so overtly as is the case here, was a deliberate contrast to the flowing, seamless form of the preceding Forest for orchestra. Realms Apart was specially written for a series of concerts this autumn in Germany, given by Ensemble Crush, which celebrate not only my seventieth birthday, but other decennial anniversaries, including that of my daughter, composer Alwynne Pritchard, who is 50 this year. The world premiere was in Essen on October 18th.
Source: Composer
DLO