Capriccio (1991)
for piccolo and contrabassoon
Approximate duration: 6 minutes
Premiere: 1991
Casa Italiano, Columbia University
New York City
Pamela Sklar, piccolo
Jane Taylor, contrabassoon
PROGRAM NOTES
This first in a series of pieces written under the nom de plume Cecil. P. Turner was actually suggested to me by Pamela Sklar, the flutist in my Introduction, Adagio and Allegro for bass flute and harp. During preliminary readings of that piece before it was actually completed, Pam expressed a fondness for the contrabassoon, and asked if I wouldn’t be interested in writing some sort of duo for that instrument and perhaps piccolo.
Although the idea initially struck me as too ridiculous to entertain, my own unhealthy predilection for just such bizarities got me thinking of how to exploit the extreme disparity between the instruments. I let the concept macerate in my head until in the late spring of 1990 I began jotting down ideas for a humorous piece.
The premiere was held at a Composer’s Workshop concert at Casa Italiana at Columbia University in New York, and was very well received.