Instrumentation:

Bass Oboe, Bass Clarinet

Duration:

13 Minutes

Premiere Performance:

January 28, 1997, Corner Brook, Nfld. (Lawrence Cherney, Henri Bok)

Performances:

January 30, 1997, St. John's, NF. (Cherney, Bok)

February 1, 1997, Halifax, NS (Cherney, Bok)

Sample Performance on CD

Performance of January 28

Sample Performance Quality:

Fair

Commission Details

Commissioned by Lawrence Cherney and Henri Bok

In my writing, I always try to create some aspect which personalizes that piece for the performer or group that has commissioned a new work. When I was asked by Canadian Bass Oboist Lawrence Cherney and Dutch Bass Clarinettist Henri Bok for a new piece to be premiered during a tour of Newfoundland in 1997, I tried to think of a way of combining Holland and Canada in musical terms.

For the Holland connection, I immediately thought of perhaps the most famous "Dutch" piece in the classical repertoire: the opera The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner. This seemed a wise choice: Henri Bok would be flying to Canada for the performance, and the opera deals with sailors and the sea, a tradition which lives at the heart of Newfoundland culture. As a result I decided to write a serious of variations on the sailors' chorus which opens the third act of the opera (preceeded, in my piece, by a bit of the famous overture).

The choice of the sailors' chorus for the variations also suited my purpose. When considering the dark combination of Bass Oboe and Bass Clarinet, I was determined NOT to write a work that was sad or depressing or "deep." I wanted to write a more light-hearted piece and the joyous sailors' chorus provided the perfect impetus for such a mood. The six variations are virtuosic and complex at times, but there is always an underlying sense of exhuberance in the writing.

As for the Canadian connection in the work, suffice it to say that I have tried to do my patriotic duty and represent Canada as best I could.

1. The Premiere Performance, St. John's, NF, January 30, 1997.

Evening Telegram, January 31, 1997: Glenn Colton

The first half of the concert closed with the world premiere of Six Lowly Variations on the Flying Dutchman by Newfoundland composer Michael Parker. As if writing a set of variations on a theme of Wagner (for bass oboe and bass clarinet, no less!) was not enough of a challenge in itself, Parker has added the additional aim of infusing the work with a distinctly Canadian flavor - a goal he achieved admirably in a lively and, at times, comical piece.