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Duration: c. 14'
1. Hustle Misterioso
2. Twist Variations
3. Bear Hug
4. Funk Scherzo
DETAILS
COMMISSIONED for the 1997 International Contrabassoon Festival, Las Vegas, as the required contest piece.
PREMIERED by Roger Soren at 1997 IDRS Convention.
PERFORMANCES include Juan de Gomar at 2008 IDRS Convention.
AVAILABLE from your favorite sheet music dealer, or direct from Presser.
YOUTUBE of premiere by Roger Soren.
PROGRAM NOTES
In late
1995, I received a wonderful email from Las Vegas businessman Mark Trinko, who
loved contrabassoon music. He had heard my contrabassoon concerto and told me
he'd never enjoyed any music with strings until hearing this piece. (I'm not
making this up.)
Mark was
organizing an international contrabassoon festival, hoping it would become an
annual summer event, possibly back-to-back with the annual IDRS convention. As a
kickoff, Mark was writing me to commission a recital piece for unaccompanied
contra that could be used for competitions.
Being a
bass clarinetist myself, and very fascinated by the Bach cello suites which
balance between vernacular dance rhythms and developed form, I was eager to
compose a similarly-conceived dance suite, based on music contemporary to my own
vernacular.
1. HUSTLE
MISTERIOSO uses a hustle rhythm, and the notes are reminsicent of the
"Powerhouse" motif used in many of Carl Stalling's cartoon scores. It
also is a traditionally-built rounded binary form.
2. TWIST VARIATIONS uses a theme in driving quarter-notes and 12-bar blues, and
then goes quite far afield into many rhythmic and textural worlds, using the
12-bar blues as a chaconne.
3. BEAR HUG is a 12/8 slow dance, certainly inspired by the feel of Smokey
Robinson's and other ballads of that genre.
4. FUNK SCHERZO is more free-form, and true to its title.
Roger Soren
gave the world premiere at IDRS 1997; audio excerpts of that live performance
are on the contrabassoon page of this website.
Individual movements have been used frequently for audition requirements, and
few have dared to play the complete suite in entirety. I've had the rare
pleasure of hearing the 1st movement played en masse in unison at a
contrabassoon convention.
IN
A DEEP FUNK is also available for bass clarinet or baritone saxophone, and there
is a sequel, Deep Funk, Pt. 2, for solo viola.
REVIEWS
(Movement 2): "Based on the popular dance from the 1960s, this is a fun piece for the audience as well as the accomplished contra player. A standard rock and roll chord progression is treated in a variety of ways melodically and rhythmically, with a few nods in the direction of Dave Brubeck and other jazz musicians as well. Although its duration is less than six minutes, the piece is quite grueling. The entire four-movement set is quite a blow at around twelve minutes! ... the piece really is a hoot for both the player up to the challenge, and for the audience."
–Jon Beebe, The Double Reed, Vol. 26, No. 4 (2003)
"To say that Daniel Dorff is a prolific composer is a huge understatement. Thanks to him, our repertoire is vastly enhanced by many compositions for clarinet solo and chamber music, all for which he chose colorful and fun titles… Dorff writes that he was somewhat inspired by the Bach dance suite model, but uses dance patterns from the present era rather than the Baroque. Bass clarinetist Barbara Haney premiered it at the 2014 ICA ClarinetFest, and one of her terrific performances is posted on YouTube. "Hustle Misterioso" uses a hustle rhythm and was inspired by cartoon music, "Twist Variations" (my favorite movement) uses a walking bass theme in a 12-bar blues, "Bear Hug" is a 12/8 slow dance, and "Funk Scherzo" is very rhythmic, inspired by R&B soul-funk bass riffs. In A Deep Funk is a very well done and audience-friendly addition to our bass clarinet repertoire."
– The Clarinet (Michèle Gingras), December 2015
"One strong point of ClarinetFest 2014 has been the array of excellent performances on bass clarinet, often showcasing new music for the instrument. This Lagniappe Recital was a shining example of that. In a Deep Funk featured four movements with a play on popular dance crazes from the middle of the last century... The music was sometimes raucous and sometimes singing, but always had an underlying groove. Barbara Haney played very convincingly, executing the large leaps and use of the full range of the bass clarinet with great ease."
– Clarinetfest.wordpress.com (Melissa L. Morales), August 5, 2014
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