MICROCONCERTO FOR CLARINET AND ENSEMBLE: JUMBO SHRIMP (2025)
Instrumentation: solo clarinet in Bb/bass clarinet in Bb, piccolo, electric guitar, violin, cello, double bass
Duration: ~9 minutes
Movements:
Processional
Two-Step
Foxtrot/Quickstep
Square Dance
Recessional
Performance/Recording History:
Premiered by Chao-Chih George Chen, clarinet, Andrea Ábel, piccolo, Emmett Edwards, guitar, Leona Liu, violin, Dylan Lee Kinneavy, cello, Diego Martinez, double bass, and Lisa Moore, conductor at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in the Music Shed in Norfolk, CT on June 27, 2025.
Program Notes:
The phrase “jumbo shrimp” is a textbook example of an oxymoron, which is defined as a “self-contradicting word or group of words” (“jumbo” means large and “shrimp” means small). Some other delightful oxymorons include “awfully good”, “act natural”, “virtual reality”, and “serious fun”. I have long been amused by the concept of oxymorons, and I am particularly fascinated by our tendency as humans to take these seemingly irreconcilable juxtapositions and ascribe a specific meaning to them, thereby rationalizing them.
This piece deals with the oxymoron very literally; contradiction is the governing force at both the surface and structural levels. Jumbo Shrimp is a microconcerto for clarinet (already a contradiction - concertos are traditionally conceived on a larger scale) which is set in five miniature movements played without a break. The inner three movements are abstracted realizations of American dance forms, and the first and last movements bookend this peculiar ball we find ourselves in. Contradictions occur within each section; the movements defy key aspects of the dance forms as they typically exist. Juxtapositions also take place between the movements, as the musical worlds they inhabit are extremely disparate. Perhaps most important, though, is the contradiction that takes place within the very nature of the piece. The definition of a concerto is a work that spotlights a solo instrument (or instruments) with an accompanying ensemble. In Jumbo Shrimp, however, the solo clarinet struggles to be heard, and the ensemble denies and overtakes the clarinet time and time again. The piece is driven by the clarinet’s attempts to free itself from the constraints of the ensemble and to attain some sort of autonomy.
In a similar manner as oxymorons, my piece rationalizes some of the contradictions it sets out. Others, though, are left as unresolved disputes. As with the many contradictions we observe in our present day society, many are unjustified.