Thomas Clark – composer / digital artist

Tag: Brno

  • Brno Variations

    2024 . . . wind ensemble . . . (13 min.) . . . Picc, Fl, Ob, 3 Clar, Alto Sax, Ten Sax, Bari Sax, Bsn, 3 Trp, 2 Hn, 2 Tbn, Euph, Tuba, Timp, Perc, Dbl Bass

    Leos Janácek composed his great concert work, Sinfonietta, in 1926 for the Sokol Gymnastic Festival in Prague. It is what I call musical sketches of his home city, Brno, the largest city in the Moravian east of what was then Czechoslovakia. I visited Brno several times starting in 1991 to perform my music at its International Music Festival. The festival traditionally ends with a performance of Sinfonietta by the Brno Philharmonic in Janácek Divadlo (theatre). In 1993 my ballet, PTACI, was premiered at historic Mahunovo Divadlo, across a plaza from Janácek Divadlo.

    Though I could have continued my “Sketches” series with a “Brno Sketches,” instead this new work is a set of more abstract variations partly based on and quoting themes from Sinfonietta (in the tradition of Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Haydn). Variation 1 “Canon” engages that ancient musical technique, evoking Brno’s medieval history. Variation 2 “Overtones” explores two harmonic series, C and Bb, painted over each other in layers of color, with hints of fanfare emerging through the clouds. Variation 3 “Constellations” is a kaleidoscopic succession of large sonorities built on stone-sturdy Perfect Fifth intervals brightened by jazz-like added tones. Variation 4 “Fanfare” is an ostinato pattern-music fantasia on Sinfonietta‘s grand fanfare themes.

    To obtain free performance materials, email: TC24@txstate.edu

  • Špilberk Castle

    Tuba / euphonium quartet            2019        duration: 8 minutes

    Dating back to the 13th century, Špilberk Castle has a dark history. Standing on a hilltop in the Moravian city of Brno, surrounded by chestnut trees in a beautiful park, its dungeons served for six centuries as a prison, holding war prisoners, Polish political prisoners, persecuted religious groups, and Czech patriots resisting the Nazis. Eventually it was a military barracks, and finally in 1959 became a municipal building and park and home to the Brno City Museum.

    During several visits to Brno in the 1990s, Clark spent much time walking in the surrounding park, as well as participating in rehearsals inside the castle with the municipal dance company for which he composed his ballet, PTACI. Two memories remain vivid:

    “Dark Rain”  – leaving the castle on a pitch-black night in a cold, late-October rain.

    “Moravian Autumn” – one of many sunny autumn afternoons walking through golden chestnut leaves in a timeless euphoria.

    MIDI synthesis rendering:

     

    To request performance materials and permission, email the composer, tc24@txstate.edu.