Clarinet Sonata

The
Clarinet Sonata was commissioned by clarinettist Christoffer
Sundqvist and premiered by him in Stockholm last June. Sundqvist’s
extrovert musicianship and fantastic instrumental virtuosity has
been a great source of inspiration to Fagerlund during the
compositional process. Sundqvist also inspired and premiered
Fagerlund’s Clarinet Concerto. This is the Clarinet Sonata’s
Irish premiere.

The
first movement is founded on a continuous flow of forward moving
energy in which different virtuosic “musical machines”
interact with each other. The second movement is the complete
opposite of the first movement, the musical expression is now static
and intense. The movement is built around the same harmonic material
as used in the first but this time presented in a slow and “spread
out” state. In the third movement the speed in the music picks
up pace and presents the clarinettist as a ritualistic master of
ceremonies, who leads the audience through increasingly frenetic
musical rites.