Description
Feathers & Fables: The Music of Jenni Brandon recorded and released by Chris Mothersole
Out Now on All Major Streaming Platforms!
(Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music)
Features Jenni’s Clarinet Works with Delay pedal:
 |
The inspiration for Cacophony comes from a large, canopied tree on my street. At dawn and dusk, the birds gather here and create an amazing cacophony of birdsong. In this work I wanted to recreate the sounds and textures of this effect by using both the lyrical and rhythmic abilities of the clarinet, but also the color opportunities that the delay pedal offers. You’ll hear a variety of birdsong, from a single bird singing just before dawn, to the back-and-forth calls of birds using the reverse delay. The digital delay creates a sense of duet and birds trying to out-sing each other. Eventually all the birds arrive in the tree to sing, using the digital delay to create a hazy wall of sound as timbral trills break through the cacophony as individual songs of birds. |
|
|
Chansons 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. |
