The 'Poema de Amor' for Solo Clarinet and Piano is an interesting work in the line of romantic film music, and was commissioned by the Spanish clarinettist Joan Borràs, to whom the piece is dedicated. After a brief introduction, the clarinettist enters with a 'cantabile' melody, sounding at all times ample and noble. This special melody is the essence or 'backbone' to the whole piece, where, in the central part, the soloist opens out in wider registers, culminating in a brief cadenza. This rather invites the accompanist to set forth and enjoy his or her one moment of memorable climax, before the intensity is gradually reduced little by little (coinciding with the re-entry of the soloist), until arriving at a final part exceptionally tranquil. The piano writing should be seen as moderately comfortable for competent pianists. The duration of the work is of some six minutes, and can be flexibly inserted into a wide range of Recital programming, both serious and light.
There is also an orchestral version available for Clarinet and String Orchestra, which might be of real interest to those looking for contemporary 'tuneful' pieces, for the beauty of this piece is that it can sound equally impressive played by promising medium level students or by top class soloists! The world premiere of the work was given, in the orchestral version, by the Strings of the Basque National Orchestra (conducted by Caroline Collier), who recorded it immediately afterwards on a CD titled 'Entre Dos Mundos' (Between Two Worlds) that is available from 'Creighton's Collection'. On both these occasions the soloist was Joan Borràs, and it was he who helped with the edition of the solo Clarinet part. |
