Description

Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (2021)

I. Unruly

II. Tender

III. Defiant

(Ricardo Morales/U.S. Marine Band Chamber Orchestra/Jason Fettig)

Duration: 26 min.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, 2 percussion, harp, solo clarinet, strings (minimum 6 first violins, 6 second violins, 4 violas, 3 cellos, 1 contrabass)

Co-commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the U.S. Marine Band Chamber Orchestra, and the Quad City Symphony.

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World Premiere: November 11, 12 & 13, 2021; Ricardo Morales, soloist; The Philadelphia Orchestra, Rafael Payare, conductor; Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA

Notable Performances: January 2022 with Ricardo Morales as soloist with the US Marine Band Chamber Orchestra, Jason Fettig, conductor. February 2024 with Ricardo Morales as soloist with the Olympia Symphony, Alexandra Arrieche, conductor. April 2024 with Ricardo Morales as soloist with the Quad City Symphony, Mark Russell Smith, conductor.

World Premiere Recording: Aspire: The President’s Own at 225. Ricardo Morales, soloist; US Marine Band Chamber Orchestra, Jason Fettig, conductor.

“It’s an amiable work — frisky, colorful, voluble, and written in a direct musical style that sometimes suggests the hand of a Francophile… It’s high-energy stuff, and that aspect of the piece gave soloist Ricardo Morales plenty of ways to highlight his superior technical firepower.

“But it was the more lyrical sections that caught my ear, and Morales carried these moments beautifully. There was a lovely back-and-forth between the solo clarinetist and flutist Patrick Williams, a dreamy aspect to the second movement, and a third movement that suggested, in the best sense, a movie score. In a concerto, the soloist may be the hero, but this is a concerto that knows that when it comes to visiting magical places, it’s only the orchestra that can bring you along.”

Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 16, 2021

“The Bancks piece, a world premiere, was written for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s superb principal clarinetist, Ricardo Morales. It is an engaging vehicle for his talents. About 25 minutes in length, the Clarinet Concerto is divided into three movements played without interruption: ‘Unruly,’ ‘Tender’ and ‘Defiant.’ The orchestration is colorful, with an array of percussion that includes bongos, vibraphone, high-hat and brake drum (yes, the car part, struck with mallets).

“The character of the solo clarinet part, which contains a number of extended trills and ad lib passages, changes frequently, with instructions in the score running the gamut from ‘with swagger’ and ‘lonely’ to ‘stealthy.’ But unlike traditional concertos, where soloist and orchestra often alternate time in the spotlight, Mr. Bancks’s work requires Mr. Morales to play almost nonstop with the orchestra or in smaller chamber-music groupings of colleagues. His breaks are usually short, his unaccompanied passages mostly brief. The clarinetist met this physical challenge with his customary fluidity and admirable expressivity.

“The fidgety first section, ‘Unruly,’ has a retro feel, at times evoking Gershwin, Hollywood film scores and the Big Band era in an otherwise conservatively atonal framework. The ‘Tender’ section is more memorable, summoning a sense of regret at the outset in quiet, plaintive writing for solo clarinet, strings and woodwinds. Gradually, the music grows more dissonant, mysterious and anguished. Mr. Payare was not only attentive to the soloist here, as in the rest of the piece, but delved deeply with him into its expressive essence. Then he led a well-paced account of the ‘Defiant’ section, with its catchy rhythms and percussive effects.”

Barbara Jepson, The Wall Street Journal, November 15, 2021

Full Performance Video: Ricardo Morales, soloist, and the US Marine Band Chamber Orchestra, Col. Jason Fettig, conductor

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