del Águila - Clarinet Concerto (Piano Reduction)

Written in 1990, this Clarinet Concerto was premiered the same year at Moscow’s Dom Kompositor Hall by clarinetist Wenzel Fuchs (Berlin Philharmonic), and the American Music Ensemble Vienna conducted by Hobart Earle who commissioned the work and later released it on Albany Records together with other works by Miguel del Aguila.

The opening lyrical Lento, of a dark, often brooding character, gives way to a bright, dance-like Allegro featuring irregular rhythms and Latin American folk inspired idioms and colors. As the intensity increases, the dark theme from the first movement returns in all its power to provide a dramatic climax, after which the piece fades away into a somber ending. Moscow’s Novoe Vremia, reviewer praised the work as having “a modern musical conception with profound ideas and expressivity”. In 2005 Richard Stoltzman premiered an extended version of the concerto with Allentown Symphony, Diane Wittry, conductor. This version, sometimes called Clarinet Concerto No. 2, includes an introduction and a third movement). Composer has since merged the two versions into one, original Clarinet Concerto, here available in a piano reduction.

Instrumentation:

• Clarinet
• Piano