Reflections on Europa for Clarinet and Piano

The ice covered Europa is one of the principle moons of Jupiter. The sound world, which is meant to evoke this frigid environment, is created by using the high registers of both the clarinet and piano and by using square, metrical, brittle rhythms. In the first two movements, motives, and sometimes entire sections, are repeated in retrograde or inversion to further enhance this image of reflective ice. There is a progression from atonal writing which contains many chromatic passages in the first movements to more modal writing in the last movements. This narrowing of pitch material is intended to evoke a movement from the impersonal to the personal. The poetic idea behind the piece begins with an image of a moon in complete isolation which then makes a connection with the distant stars, and then the not so distant clouds surrounding the giant Jupiter which hangs heavily in its sky, and finally with an inward awakening of oceans which could be filled with life beneath the surface of ice. This intended for performers with an advanced level of skill.