— Douglas Adams
As noted here, 2017 was quite the year for the creation of Henningmusick. The two “flagship” compositions of the year being the Symphony № 1, Op.143 (completed in January), and the Clarinet Sonata, Op.136 (completed in June) In between, one fine day in April I began working on a piece for clarinet, guitar and bass called Nun of the Above. I suspect I had in mind a performance on a Ninth Ear event. These being few even at first, nothing ever came of this original intent. Whenever I may have finished the piece, though, I seem really to have liked it, because I adapted it several times: Op. 144a for flute, guitar and double-bass adapted for Peter Bloom & Mark Leighton, Op. 144b for clarinet and piano not that there was a pianist with whom I was working, then, seemingly with the intent of creating a kind of electronic mix, Op. 144c for 2 A clarinets and electric bass (we’ll permit acoustic double-bass ad libitum) which, while neither actually produced/performed as intended, has appeared as a component of one of the whimsical Sauna Songs, Op. 152, and then (and until recently, seemingly finally) Op. 144d for flute and piano. If that seems like a lot of effort to get this piece to an audience, maybe it is. All the mental real estate that this piece sems to have occupied notwithstanding, I had completely forgotten about the piece (granted, I suffered a severe stroke since.) I was reminded of the piece courtesy of Facebook’s Memories algorithm, which showed me the photo below. Why that is relevant is, that with the possible recruitment of a double-bassist for the Henning Ensemble (hence the quartet Fuchsia Minor) the Nun struck me as an obvious candidate for adaptation. I took the Op. 144c (2 A clarinets and electric bass) as the “base” for the Op. 144e for 2 flutes, alto saxophone ad double-bass. It was good fun, filling out counterpoint as needed, and the arrangement is done. I sent the parts to the band today.
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