Commissioned by Suginami SYA-RAK Wind Symphony in 2015.I was asked to write a piece for seven clarinets featuring a lively, clear and dramatic character of the clarinet. The inspiration for the work came from pixels (basic unit of a digital image). They combine to make a variety of three-dimensional musical shapes in this case.The introduction is like a sketch, and the melody gradually develops to be popish and swingy. It reflects different types of expressions, songs and feelings creating a variety of lines and curves. It finally achieves a climactic fanfare.It is important to establish a clear distinction between solo character and unified ensemble playing.The seating order should be from 1st to 7th clarinet respectively.Ideal instrumentation is all seven parts being played by Bb clarinets. Optional Eb Clarinet (1), Alto Clarinet (6), and Bass Clarinet (7) are provided; however, to produce a unified timbre it is best to use all Bb clarinets. Therefore, some parts are written in extreme ranges and might be slightly challenging.
(Yosuke Fukuda)
