clar(dbl bscl)

Composer's note:  Symbiosis, for clarinet doubling bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, and cello, was composed during the spring of 2009 for the Empyrean Ensemble. It was a pleasure writing it with the sound of Empyrean's wonderful players firmly in mind. Webster's defines symbiosis as "the close union of two dissimilar organisms." These organisms, in this case musical ideas, morph at varying rates of speed, and form new alliances. So alliances arise, flourish for a while, and shift.

After Maxfield Parrish's 'Arizona,' 1950, winner in competition sponsored by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Classical Symphony