Edward Smaldone

Clarinet and Piano

Composer's Note:

Two Sides of the Same Coin (1990) was commissioned by the Sounds from the Left Bank series, and premiered at PS. 1 (Project Studios 1) in Long Island City, NY in May 1990. This single movement develops music of radically different sensibilities from common motivic and harmonic material. The A section is energetic, with rarely a silence interfering with the propulsive character of the music. Eventually exhausting itself, A gives way to a contrasting and dream-like B section, that transmogrifies elements from its predecessor. Now the propulsive rhythms of the A section are translated into a steady stream of eighth-note quintuplets in the left-hand of the piano against which the clarinet plays long, angular lines "as though in a haze." Just as the A section loses steam and collapses, the B sections eighth note pulse steadily slows to near stillness. A short coda restores the energy and material of the A section.
Dedicated to the composer's eldest daughter, Laura, the piece was intended to reflect life at home with an eighteen-month-old child. "Her boundless energy (when awake) and dreamy tranquility (when asleep) were two sides of what now seems like a blissfully simple experience of parenting!"