Project Description
Clarinet in B♭ and Piano
1975
17 min.
Listen Now
Barney Childs, piano; Phillip Rehfeldt, clarinet
On the album Hiller, Yttrehus, and Maslanka (1980)
Preview Score
Commissioned by
Part of the “New Music for Clarinet and Friend” series supported by the University of Redlands.
Program Note
Three Pieces was commissioned in 1974 by Phillip Rehfeldt and Barney Childs for their Clarinet and Friend series. It was completed in 1975 and has since been widely performed.
The first piece is understated – elliptical, secretive, willful. Spidery, sparse textures of the beginning and end surround a central episode of denser, more tonally-oriented material. The piece embodies altogether a deliberate contrary juxtaposition of clarinet and piano.
The second piece, marked “aggressive, explosive,” is a rough, raucous, bursting movement giving the impression of improvisation, though with the exception of one small section, it is entirely composed. Again there is a deliberate separation of clarinet and piano material. The effect is of two musics occupying roughly the same space but having very little to do with each other. The underlying tonal orientation of the whole piece begins to emerge in the piano writing.
Number three follows with only brief pause. It is a gentle reconciliation of forces leading to a chorale-like passage with clarinet and piano in rhythmic lockstep. There follows a gradual revelation of the key of C# major and a long, ethereal coda for piano alone.
Commissioning Background
“New Music for Clarinet and Friend” is a body of 32 commissioned works, performances and recordings especially for and by composer Barney Childs and clarinetist Phillip Rehfeldt. It was supported, beginning in 1974 to about 1988, by a series of usually modest Summer-Research Grants from the Faculty-Research Committee of the University of Redlands. “Accompaniments” range, in various combinations, from piano, reader, video, synthesizer, electronics, to theater and wall hangings. Barney died in 2000. His music is housed in Armocost Library at the University of Redlands.
Further Reading
Interview with Tiffany Woods (2003)
In May 2003, Tiffany Woods emailed David a series of questions in the course of writing a paper. She was a student at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and taking a Band Literature course [...]
From the Maslanka Archive – No. 34, Julian Velasco’s Interview of Gary Green
From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature Julian Velasco's interview of Gary Green from the Wharton Center in East Lansing, MI from October 24, 2017.
From the Maslanka Archive – No. 33, John Floridis’s Interview of David
From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature an episode from Montana Public Radio's Musician's Spotlight featuring John Floridis interviewing David about his music and background as a composer.
From the Maslanka Archive – No. 32, Julian Velasco’s Interview of David – Part 2
From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature Part 2 of Julian Velasco's interview of David from his home in Missoula, MT in 2016.
From the Maslanka Archive – No. 31, Julian Velasco’s Interview of David – Part 1
From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature Part 1 of Julian Velasco's interview of David from his home in Missoula, MT in 2016.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 110, Images of Hell
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three of David's works that reference Hell: Hell's Gate, A Child's Garden of Dreams, and O Earth, O Stars.
From the Maslanka Archive – No. 29, David on Dreaming and the Unconscious Mind
From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature a speech David gave on matters of dreaming and the unconscious mind before a performance of A Child's Garden of Dreams by the James Madison University Wind Symphony.
From the Maslanka Archive – No. 15, A Child’s Garden of Dreams
From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature pictures from David's residency with Stephen K. Steele and the Illinois State University Wind Symphony for a performance of A Child's Garden of Dreams in 2012.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 72, Life
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three of David’s compositions that focus on the spirit of life and living: Unending Stream of Life, Traveler, and “Movement 4” from A Child's Garden of Dreams.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 69, Dream Space
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three of David’s compositions (of which there are literally dozens to choose from) that explore a vast array of dream space: A Child's Garden of Dreams, Traveler, and California.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 66, Vistas
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three of David’s compositions that emulate various kinds of vistas: Symphony No. 8, A Child's Garden of Dreams, and Symphony No. 6.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 63, Malcolm W. Rowell, Jr.
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three of David’s compositions that Malcolm W. Rowell, Jr. and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Wind Ensemble championed: A Child's Garden of Dreams, Symphony No. 4, and Tears.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 48, Water Music
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we continue to look at more of David's music that uses water as a symbol or motif: A Child's Garden of Dreams, Sea Dreams: Concerto for Two Horns and Wind Ensemble, and UFO Dreams: Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Ensemble, Movement II - "The Water is Wide."
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 39, Dreams & Meditations
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three compositions that specifically mention "dreaming" or "meditation" in their title: A Child's Garden of Dreams, Movement I, Sea Dreams: Concerto for Two Horns and Wind Ensemble, Movement III, and Recitation Book, Movement I, "Broken Heart: Meditation on the chorale melody Der du bist drei in einigkeit."
David Maslanka: Works for Younger Wind Ensembles
Here are more than twenty works for wind ensemble, arranged in approximate ascending order of difficulty, with commentary by David Maslanka
The Nature of Consciousness: Correspondence
We'd love to encourage you to write to David with questions or comments that you have about his music. He loves hearing your thoughts and feelings. Get in touch on the Contact page. June 6, [...]
Recording the Wind Ensemble Music of David Maslanka
Mark Morette of Mark Custom Recording shares his extensive experience in recording wind ensembles.
Remarks before the premiere of A Child’s Garden of Dreams, Book 2
Remarks made 7 December 2008 in Boone, NC before the premiere of A Child's Garden of Dreams, Book 2, by the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra, James Allen Anderson, conductor. I'm not going to say [...]
Some things that are true: Reflections on being an artist at the end of the 20th century
Society of Composers Incorporated Region VIII Conference, University of Montana at Missoula. Keynote address by David Maslanka – November 20, 1998 As soon as one speaks about “truth” there will be objections. Since we live [...]
An Analytical Study of David Maslanka’s A Child’s Garden of Dreams
The five movements of A Child's Garden of Dreams are inspired by five dreams selected from Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols. Dr. David Booth's doctoral dissertation on A Child's Garden of Dreams provides an analysis of each of the work's five [...]
