Petrichor for clarinet and fixed media (PDF sheet music)

Description

Composer: Adam Scott Neal
Instrumentation: Clarinet and fixed media (stereo audio file)
Format: Downloadable PDF
Length: 17 pages total (including cover and front matter)
Size: 8.5 × 11 in.

The fixed media track is available for download here. It is also linked in the PDF.

Preview

Recording

Program note

Petrichor is a term coined by researchers I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas that describes the pleasant fragrance of rain. The fragrance is actually a combination of various chemical compounds collected on rocks and soil, so the term combines the Greek words “petros” (stone) and “ichor” (the blood of the gods in Greek mythology). This piece depicts a rainy summer afternoon, beginning with a thunderstorm and followed by a more subdued rainshower.

I wrote Petrichor the summer after I graduated with my Master’s from Georgia State, before embarking on my next one at Queen’s University Belfast. I tried to capture my impression of a rainy summer afternoon in Georgia. At the same time, I still used twelve-tone techniques; the first half is a fairly linear use of the set, while the second half projects chords derived from this set for longer periods of time. This and Parallel Lives, written the same summer, are the last pieces where I used twelve-tone technique in a systematic way.

The sounds in this piece were created in Csound. The sound source is a recording of rain, which is at times chopped up and granulated, and run through resonant filters throughout. I used the algorithmic utility nGen to generate some of the rhythms of the more chime-like parts in the second half, while all of the rhythms in the first half were composed by hand first.

Performances

• Sarunas Jankauskas, University of Louisville, 3/8/18
• Wayne Thomas, University of Huddersfield (UK), 1/31/13
• Tadej Kenig, sound festival, Aberdeen, UK 11/11/09
• Asuka Yamamato, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, New York City, 4/4/09
• Tadej Kenig, Basel, Switzerland, 11/5/08
• Tadej Kenig, Lugano, Switzerland, 11/3/08
• Tadej Kenig, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 10/27/08
• “Signals of the Vitruvian Man” (tape-only). Belfast, UK 2/29/08
• Kenneth Long, neoPhonia New Music Ensemble, Atlanta, GA, 10/9/07

About the Work

Petrichor is an original composition for advanced or professional clarinetists interested in intricate and evocative contemporary repertoire. The piece is available exclusively as a digital download (PDF) directly from the composer’s catalog.