Programme Note
K takes the first two bars of the Clarinet Quintet in A major, Kv. 581, by W. A. Mozart (1756 – 1791) and pulls them apart, exposing, reworking, fragmenting, reflecting and elaborating their harmony and gesture. The resulting short piece is almost catatonically restful, instructed ‘tranquilizing’ at the top of the score. The original two bars of Mozart’s are only heard at the very end, almost in echo.
Details
K was written for the Sounds New MozartNOW Festival in Canterbury in 2006, the 250th Anniversary of Mozart’s birth. It was first performed on 4th December 2006 in St Peter’s Church, Canterbury by David Campbell, Kathy Shave, Lizzie Umpleby, Rachel Dyker and Julia Vohralik. It has since been revised in 2010 and performed in the revised version by the Windrush Chamber Players and Endymion.
The performance in this video was at Kings Place Hall 2, London, by Endymion: Krysia Osostowicz, Clara Biss, Asdis Valdimarsdottir and Jane Salmon with Mark van de Wiel on clarinet.
Ideally K is performed immediately before Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A major, K581.
Instrumentation: string quartet and clarinet in A (clarinet appears in the last five bars only)
Duration: 7’30”
Published by Opera Edition Ltd.