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  • Clarinet Quintet Op. 147
    Clarinet Quintet Op. 147 ThumbnailClarinet Quintet Op. 147 ThumbnailClarinet Quintet Op. 147 Thumbnail

    Derek Bourgeois

    Clarinet Quintet Op. 147

    • £24.75

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    • Product Details
    • Composer Biography

    Instrument: score and parts
    Grade: professional
    Catalogue No: 3703
    ISMN No: 9790570278428

    The work was commissioned by Andrew Winckler to be played at his Silver Wedding anniversary as a surprise present for his wife Marie. The only instructions were that the work should be easy on the ear and suitable for the occasion. ~ The first movement is an extended sonata form. After a brief rhythmic introduction the first subject, which is heard on the clarinet, is a lively melody in C major. The second subject is an extended lyrical melody in the dominant key. The exposition is repeated and the development makes use of both subjects before the return of the recapitulation. ~ The second movement is mellow and reflective and is basically a set of variations in A minor. There is a virtuosic violin cadenza towards the end which leads to a final calm statement of the main theme in the major. ~ The last movement is a light hearted rhythmic extravaganza, again in C major, cast in sonata rondo form. The principal theme is basically in 7/8, but is occasionally punctuated by bars of even greater complexity. The second subject is much more robust and first appears in the key of F minor. The central episode is a fugue on the principal theme. At the very end of the work the theme is launched as a whirlwind presto, briefly interrupted by loud and solemn chords before the final headlong rush.
    Derek Bourgeois
    Derek Bourgeois was born in Kingston on Thames in 1941. He graduated from Cambridge University with a first class honours degree in music, and a subsequent Doctorate. He spent two years at the Royal College of Music where he studied composition with Herbert Howells and conducting with Sir Adrian Boult.

    He has composed seventeen symphonies, twelve concertos, several other extended orchestral works, seven major works for chorus and orchestra, two operas and a musical. As well as a considerable quantity of chamber, vocal and instrumental music, he has composed twelve extended works for Brass Band and five symphonies for Symphonic Wind Orchestra. He has also written a considerable amount of music for television productions.

    He has written four works specifically about Mallorca: Symphony No 8 - "The Mountains of Mallorca", Symphony No 16 - "Songs of Mallorca", which is a setting for Soprano and Orchestra of four Poems by Miquel Costa I Llobera. A Symphonic Suite in four movements for Wind Band called simply "Mallorca", and a piece called "Felanitx Fantasy" for the Felanitx Band, of which he conductor elect.

    From 1970 to 1984 he was a Lecturer in Music at Bristol University. He was the conductor of the Sun Life Band from 1980 until 1983, and during the same period was Chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain, and a member of the Music Advisory Panel of the Arts Council.

    In September 1984 he gave up his university post to become the Musical Director of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. In 1988 he founded the National Youth Chamber Orchestra of Great Britain which held its first course in the Summer of 1989. In 1990 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Bristol Philharmonic Orchestra.

    He left the National Youth Orchestra in August 1993 to become the Director of Music of St Paul's Girls' School in London. He retired to Mallorca in July 2002 where he now lives as a full-time composer.

    Derek Bourgeois died in September 2017.

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