Municipal Shuffle

Municipal Shuffle is a work composed for Ensemble Proton Bern featuring Richard Haynes, clarinet, as soloist. In working with Richard on exploring his ten clarinets ranging from piccolo clarinet in Ab all the way down to contrabass in Bb, I was surprised to find myself particularly attached to the piccolo clarinet. Everything that Richard played for me on the instrument enchanted me, from its uniquely woody slap-tongues to its brilliant yet humble high register. Richard’s ability to produce radically varied sonic worlds on the instrument inspired me to entrust the piccolo clarinet with different musical characters: from an agile bird to a malfunctioning arpeggiator, and finally the soaring soloist of a glitching orchestra. The rest of the ensemble acts at times as a mirror to the soloist, playing an equally virtuosic role and making it larger than life. When their ever-expanding palette of characters grows and glitches to a breaking point, the piccolo clarinet finally gives way to the contralto in Eb, its gritty alter-ego on whom the same musical material fits differently.