A duo for wooden flute and clarinet that infuses a contemporary idiom with Irish traditional music features. The piece – with the players moving about the space – begins slowly and with gentle quarter-tone slides, then moves to quicker, more dancing tempos before returning to the reflective mood of the opening. - Michael Dungan, The Irish Times
Quirk No.7 ‘Slides, Cuts,
Rolls and Crans’ (2011)
fl, cl/bass cl, variable duration.
Commissioned and premièred by Concorde. Performed by Madeline Staunton (flute) and Paul Roe (clarinets) Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland. 13 November 2011.
Excerpt from première performance below. (Courtesy of Jane O'Leary and Concorde)
Programme Poem
There’s some special
techniques in Irish trad
Some are quite simple, others are mad
There’s yearning slides like banshee wails
There’s cuts and taps, flicks with the nail
There’s flowery rolls with rapid attack
There’s gurgling crans that’ll take you aback
Now in this piece the musicians explore
These unique sounds placed into a score
They’ve freedom to choose different figures to play
They’ll move around you and improv away
The way it’s composed is undefined
It’s as much the performer’s piece as mine
I’m letting the musicians be creatively free
So if you don’t like it, don’t blame me!
Dave Flynn 9th November 2011
Some are quite simple, others are mad
There’s yearning slides like banshee wails
There’s cuts and taps, flicks with the nail
There’s flowery rolls with rapid attack
There’s gurgling crans that’ll take you aback
Now in this piece the musicians explore
These unique sounds placed into a score
They’ve freedom to choose different figures to play
They’ll move around you and improv away
The way it’s composed is undefined
It’s as much the performer’s piece as mine
I’m letting the musicians be creatively free
So if you don’t like it, don’t blame me!
Dave Flynn 9th November 2011
