Spirituals
Steven R. Gerber
About this work:
"Spirituals" exists in three versions: string orchestra, string quartet, and clarinet and string quartet. The version for clarinet and string quartet was commissioned by Concertante Chamber Players for performances at Merkin Hall (NYC), the Library of Congress, and in Harrisburg. It consists of 11 movements, each of which used a fragment or an aspect of one or more spirituals. The work also exists in two somewhat different versions, one for string orchestra, and one for string quartet, written for the St. Petersburg Quartet. The movements of the version for clarinet and string quartet are:
1. Melody Over a Drone I (“O Mary, Don’t You Weep, Don’t You Mourn”)
2. Minimalist Tendencies (“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”)
3. Amazing Grace Notes: Homage to John Harbison (“Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”)
4. Call and Response (“Go Down, Moses”)
5. Two Pentatonic Fragments (“Go Tell It on the Mountain” and “Study War No More”)
6. Minor and Major (“This Ol’ Time Religion”)
7. Melody Over a Drone II (“Deep River”)
8. Canons and Chorus (“Glory to That Newborn King”)
9. Six-Bar Blues-Tango in 3/4 Time (“Wade in de Water”)
10. Major Blues (A Blues Arrangement of “Jesus Goin' to Make Up My Dyin' Bed")
11. Homage to Ravel (An Arrangement of “Balm in Gilead”)
Year composed: 2000
Duration: 06:00:40
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: 1 Clarinet, 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello
Instrumentation notes: Clarinet in Bb