ØRJAN MATRE (b.1979): Inside Out - Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, Prologue for Clarinet, Chant for Bass Clarinet and Trombone, A Leaf Falls in Loneliness for Clarinet, Cello, Voice and Electronics.

Description: The concerto is the main work here, the most recent, and in many ways the most accessible. Although the composer's idiom is firmly contemporary, this piece, which plays continuously, falls into three clearly delineated sections which conform to the movements of a conventional concerto. The outer movements, especially the brashly exhilarating finale, are propelled by motoric rhythms and a clear sense of tonal progression. The clarinet enters subtly, as part of the shimmering, abstract orchestral texture but soon asserts a strong concertante presence, if not quite the dominant, centre-stage role of a Romantic concerto. The other pieces, presenting the clarinet alone or in combination with small ensembles, explore the soundworld of the solo material in the concerto - the pieces are in fact related more or less explicitly to the concerto - with multiphonics, spectralist constructions and a blurring of the boundaries between instrumental timbres and, in the case of A Leaf, between acoustic and electronic sounds. Rolf Borch (clarinet), Marius Hesby (trombone), Tora Augestad (voice), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; Juanjo Mena.