WELCHER: Haleakala / Prairie Light / Clarinet Concerto - Honolulu Symphony Orchestra

Composer-conductor Dan Welcher, whose works range in scale from piano solo to opera, is one of the most-performed American composers of his generation. In 1990, he was named Composer in Residence with the Honolulu Symphony, for whom he wrote the tone poem Haleakala: How Maui Snared the Sun. Using ancient Hawaiian chant-tunes, authentic percussion instruments and Polynesian scales, the work is designed to appeal on many levels. The Clarinet Concerto might be described as a ‘jazz concerto’, but for the fact that it incorporates styles of performance from throughout the clarinet’s history. The Blues and Toccata second movement, inspired by the name ‘Benny Goodman’ breaks into to ‘a rather polite rock-’n’-roll episode’, before being pared down to a jazz quartet.

Welcher, Dan

 Heleakala - How Maui Snared the Sun

 Prairie Light - Three Texas Watercolors of Georgia O'Keeffe

 Clarinet Concerto