Opus 213 Done

 When we drive through Middleton, I half-wonder if we've somehow missed either Beginnington or Endington.
— Postcards From Red Squirrel Trail

True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.
— Karl Popper

Smooth is not how the course of the Opus 213 ran. Just reporting, not complaining.  Illusions I Can Live With began life at a time when I was expecting that we should have only Carol & Peter for the 1 December King’s Chapel concert. As of September the 7th, the score ran to 40 measures and less than two minutes of music. At that point, the piece waited (first) upon organizational work for the Library concert, and then sat tight while I composed the 16 little pieces comprising the Opp. 211 & 214. None of these considerations was any absolute impediment to work on Illusions, but the subtextual fact was that although I had set down notes which I liked, I had not yet found a sense of direction for the piece. In fact, although not in the back of my mind, but indeed in the shade of my mind’s forefront, the question, whether I ought to just start afresh was long a low-impact nag.

But then, to my delight, Dan Zupan is ready to be restored to the Active roster, and the obvious musical solution was to make the piece a trio. To the point of “although I had set down notes which I liked,” above, every single note in the 7 September score remained untouched whille I gleefully added the bass clarinet. And poof! the Opus 213 is complete.