Déjà vu

Déjà vu begins with a swinging and possibly annoying clarinet lick. It leads the ensemble through a meandering maze of sections, all in triple time, with varying degrees of waltziness, before ending, unsatisfyingly, with a memory of the opening material. The second movement is all undulating string chorales, with a climactic but disappointingly short appearance of the bass clarinet.  The third movement is a quasi-repetition of the first (hence the work’s title), but with some bits extended, truncated, transposed, etc. When I set out to write this piece, I had high hopes that it would be an epic Serious Clarinet Quintet, a worthy successor to Mozart and Brahms. It didn’t quite turn out that way, but I hope it’s still enjoyable and engaging, on its own humbler terms.

SHEET MUSIC FOR THIS PIECE CAN BE PURCHASED AS PART OF THE SUPER DUPER MEGA ULTRA INCREDIBLE ALL CLARINET MUSIC SPECIAL