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Connections: Contemporary Music for Clarinet & String Quartet (Osiris J. Molina)

$15.99

Blue Griffin Recording presents Connections: Contemporary Music for Clarinet and String Quartet, a groundbreaking album featuring clarinetist Osiris J. Molina in an exploration of the rich sonority of the Clarinet Quintet genre from four contemporary composers.

Blue Griffin Recording presents Connections: Contemporary Music for Clarinet and String Quartet, a groundbreaking album featuring clarinetist Osiris J. Molina in an exploration of the rich sonority of the Clarinet Quintet genre from four contemporary composers.

Since Mozart, the combination of clarinet and string quartet has inspired some of the finest chamber music ever written. Connections celebrates this distinguished lineage while introducing audiences to exceptional contemporary works that deserve a place in the repertoire. As Dr. Molina shares in his liner notes, “I have always loved the rich sonority that the clarinet and string quartet can create.” 

Connections features four distinct compositional voices, each bringing unique perspectives to the Clarinet Quintet form. Brian Kershner’s Three Pressings (2017) explores the clarinet’s unusually wide dynamic range and diverse registers through a synthetic nine-note scale. The work moves from rhythmically free, indeterminate sections to a spirited rondo finale, showcasing the clarinet’s ability to blend with and emerge from the string quartet texture.

Joshua Burel’s Andooni (2015), meaning “without a home,” reflects the displacement of the Armenian people following the 1915 genocide. Drawing on a melody by Armenian monk Komitas, the work employs microtones to create the illusion of shifting pitches, mirroring the loss, dislocation, and emotional turbulence at the heart of the Armenian experience. This powerful work was commissioned for the 2015 Armenian Music Symposium, commemorating the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

Joseph Landers’ Eclogue (2018) borrows its title from Classical poetry, where the term designates pastoral poems that extol the physical beauty of nature. The work evokes serenity and meditative reflection through its serene character, with the clarinet assuming its natural and effective role in the evocation of nature, decorated by occasional ebullient outbursts answered by moments of quiet repose.

The album concludes with Gregory Vajda’s ambitious Alice Études (2017), a seven-movement work inspired by quotes from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, with movements paying homage to composers György Ligeti, David Del Tredici, Unsuk Chin, and Tom Waits, even including Vajda’s inventive take on a Taylor Swift song. As Vajda notes, “Regardless of style and genre we all coexist in Wonderland. ‘Alice’ connects us all.”

Brian Kershner
Three Pressings, for Clarinet and String Quartet (2017)

  1. I. Allegro moderato e risoluto (6:49)

  2. II. Adagietto (7:33)

  3. III. Rondo (6:08)

Joshua Burel

  1. Andooni (2015) (9:26)

Joseph Landers

  1. Eclogue (2018) (8:27)

Gregory Vajda
Alice Études (2017)

  1. No. 1, Down the Rabbit Hole (homage to György Ligeti) (5:29)

  2. No. 2, The Pool of Tears (homage to David Del Tredici) (7:26)

  3. No. 3, A Mad Tea Party (2:51)

  4. No. 4, Through the Looking Glass (homage to Unsuk Chin) (5:19)

  5. No. 5, Wool and Water (2:33)

  6. No. 6, Shaking (on a Taylor Swift song) (3:44)

  7. No. 7, Waking (homage to Tom Waits) (3:27)