Chansons de la Nature pour la Clarinette, by Jenni Brandon, performed by Hilary Lowery, Clarinet (Bemidji State University) at The Music by Women Festival 2022 on March 5, 2022, concert 13 in the Kossen Auditorium at 2:30 PM. The concert is available for viewing on YouTube at Music by Women Festival 2022 – Concert 13 – YouTube
The festival is the sixth annual international Music by Women Festival will be held March 3-5, 2022, on the campus of the Mississippi University for Women. The festival featured concerts of new and historic music written by women composers historically as well as in the present day.
Chansons de la Nature pour la Clarinette tells a story about nature as told by the clarinet’s agile voice. The French titles and basis of the pieces were inspired by the lyrical and pastoral quality of the French language and the images it invokes. The piece is also inspired by the images presented in Aesop’s fables (and Jean de la Fontain’s retelling of them); in particular, the movement “Le Lièvre et la Tortue” tells of the slow tortoise beating the fast hare with his patience and determination. Both creatures are represented in this movement, from the plodding of the tortoise to the quick movements of the hare.
The other movements also represent a variety of characters and situations from these famous fables. “Le Poisson” darts, “Le Papillon” flutters and floats, “L’étoile” shimmers in the night sky, nature ‘dances’, and “Le Serpent” is slippery and quick. Each movement is short, but just long enough to evoke a story and create a ‘song of nature’ for the clarinet.
I. Les Oiseaux
II. Le Poisson
III. Le Papillon
IV. Le Lièvre et La Tortue
V. L’Etoile
VI. Dansez!
VII. Le Serpent
Music by Women Festival 2022 – Concert 13 – YouTube
Selections from The Sun is Love …..…………………………….……Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947)
Circling the Sun
Quietness
A Waterbird (Flying into the Sun)
Deborah Popham, soprano (Sam Houston State University)
ILonka Rus, piano (Sam Houston State University)
Sonata for Cello………………….………………………………………………..……Olga Harris
(Tennessee State University)
Deidre Emerson, cello (Tennessee State University)
Jonathan Levin, piano
Chansons de la Nature pour la Clarinette………………………………….Jenni Brandon (b. 1977)
Les Oiseaux (The Birds)
Le Poisson (The Fish)
Le Papillon (The Butterfly)
Le Lièvre et la Tortue (The Hare and the Tortoise)
L’Etoile (The Star)
Dansez! (Dance!)
Le Serpent (The Snake)
Hilary Lowery, clarinet (Bemidji State University)
Per la più vaga e bella…………….……………………………………………. Francesca Caccini
Già la notte s’avvicina…………………..………………………………………….Isabella Colbran
Kate Fehan, soprano (Butler University)
Jonathan Levin, piano
Bolts of Loving Thunder……………………………………………………………Missy Mazzoli
Sandra Coursey, piano (Bowling Green State University)
Night Crossing ……………………………………………………………….I’lana Sandra Cotton
Heather Killmeyer, English horn (East Tennessee State University)
Lisa Perry, bass clarinet (East Tennessee State University)
Jonathan Levin, piano
What we do with the ashes… …………………………………………………………Hannah Rice
Our house is on fire. (Louisiana State University)
A movement is only people moving.
Rise!
The truth will set you free.
We can create transformational action.
Jamie Reimer, soprano (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Stacie Haneline, piano (University of Nebraska at Omaha)
“Chansons de la Nature pour la Clarinette” is available for purchase on Jenni Brandon’s website at the following link “Chansons de la Nature pour la Clarinette”.