Gabriel Jackson

Clarinet Quintet: In Prairial and Thermidor

Forces or Category: Clarinet & string quartet

for clarinet quintet
This beautiful chamber work takes its inspiration from an artist's book by the Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, 'A Litany A Requiem'. This book lists on alternate red, white, and blue paper plants from the month of Prairial (May-June in the French Revolutionary Calendar), set against a list of revolutionaries guillotined in the month of Thermidor (July-August). The work is in two movements - 'A Litany for Prairial' which is fast, lively, and (mostly) pastoral; and 'A Requiem for Thermidor' which is slow, largely subdued, and funereal.

Clarinet Quintet: In Prairial and Thermidor

Gabriel Jackson

Description

Programme Notes:

Clarinet Quintet: In Prairial and Thermidor is the third of three pieces based on works by the great Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, each work being in a different medium, although all are text-based. The quintet, in two movements - A litany for Prairial and A Requiem for Thermidor - is derived from the artist's book, A Litany A Requiem. Printed on, alternately, red, white and blue paper, it contains on successive pages the following texts:
A litany for

Clarinet Quintet: In Prairial and Thermidor

Gabriel Jackson

Composer Information