Clair
Clarinet, bandoneón and string quartet
Composed:
2017
Watch / listen
Score / parts
Instrumentation and duration
Clarinet, bandoneón and string quarter (with optional dancers)
Duration: 17 minutes
Commission / dedications
Commissioned by Kaivos Festival with funding from Madetoja Foundation. Dedicated to Lauri Sallinen
First performance
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet and movement, Henrik Sandås, bandoneón, Nordlyd String Quartet (Aliisa Neige Barrière, violin, Alexandra Peral, violin, Ester Forsberg, viola, Andreas Øhrn, cello), Kaivos Festival, Kiisuteatteri, Outokumpu, Finland, September 9, 2017
Reflections
Concert review, published on Turun Sanomat by Kalle Karjalainen
Composer's Notes
Clair is part of a series of works built on shared musical material. The first piece in the series, Clair sketches (2012), was written for Lauri Sallinen’s debut recital at the Sibelius Academy. Later, Lauri and the Kaivos Festival commissioned a new work for the same ensemble—clarinet, bandoneón, and string quartet—which I composed using leftover material from the original piece.
The next installment in the series is Clair II, composed between 2020 and 2021. It was commissioned by the Seinäjoki City Orchestra and premiered in September 2021 with Lauri Sallinen as soloist.
Although these pieces form a connected series, they clearly stand apart from one another as individual works. The musical relationships between them are often loose and subtle, revealing shared roots only in fleeting gestures or textures rather than in any overt thematic continuity.