Ersheinung for solo clarinet op. 2

Ersheinung is a German expression conveying the sense of apparition. The piece was written at a time when I was interrogating what would later evolve into the usage of what I call ‘chromatic triads’; something that forms the focal center of the majority of my Euro-lineage works.

At that time, the motivation for such developments were rooted in the necessity to find new ways of contextualizing post-tonal procedures that were not derived from 12-tone matrix theory. One direction in which my research was lead brought me before the theoretical texts surrounding Elliott Carter’s harmonic practice which investigated various cardinalities of chordal structures that might be formed by both symmetric and asymmetrical interval pairings. What was most salient for me regarding these features was the exhibition of a means by which to connect the expression of novel formations to the recollection of centuries- old systems of triadic conception from the central harmonic structure of the Renaissance well into the end of the 19th century. Hence, Opus. 2 is a substantial document in my personalized approach to a compositional method adopted; a point of departure.

What revealed itself most striking to me during this procedural development was the ease by which the chromatic structures could so convincingly modulate between so-called major and minor triads and the distance-expansive chromatic triads, maintaining and reinforcing a strong cohesive syntax.

There are moments in the piece that conjure the American myth-scapes of Aaron Copland —and such as I may guess at my own subconscious imperatives— I think it creates an apt case for the lineage of late Austro-German expression that embedded itself into the evolving artistic and academic circles of mid-century American academic culture. This proliferation was no less due to the expatriation of the most prolific European masters after the Second World War; most notably, Schoenberg, his appointment at UCLA, and the concomitant effect that serialism had on American musical discourse well into the end of the 20th century.