Duration: ca. 6 minutes

 

Difficulty: Moderate/Grade 5

 

Publisher:

Presently unpublished, but if interested, it is available from the composer at broter2@verizon.net

 

 

Pas de Deux was composed upon a commission by the Drucker Duo, Naomi Drucker, Principal Clarinet of the Nassau Symphony and Stanley Drucker, Principal Clarinetist with the New York Philharmonic. The work was written during my period of study with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Joseph Schwantner. The term "Pas de Deux" was selected to represent a duet filled with emotion and lyricism. Written for a husband/wife combination, there exists the notion of a sexual identification in this piece, with the first clarinet (played on a clarinet in A for a slightly deeper sound) generally exploiting the lower register of the instrument, while the second clarinet performs flirtatious ornamantal gestures around the melody. There are, in fact, two distinct themes in this movement that merge, in a gesture of unity at the movement's conclusion.