James Rae

2 Antipodean Sketches

This work was written for and dedicated to the clarinettist Mark Walton OAM by way of a thank you for all his fine recordings and performances of my music. It was premiered in London by Mark and his accompanist David Miller OAM, on June 29th 2014 in the Princess Alexandra Hall at Royal Over-Seas League, Mayfair in a concert entitled ‘Clarinet Hidden Treasures from England’ which was organised to launch Mark’s CD of the same name. The two-disc album, as its title suggests, contains works for clarinet and piano in a variety of styles by English composers including Mike Cornick, Jonathan FeBland, Paul Harris, Paul Harvey, Joseph Horovitz, Gordon Jacob, Christopher Norton and Sid Phillips. This sheet music album includes two pieces: Cloudy Bay is in the north east of New Zealand’s South Island, brought to world fame by the fine Sauvignon Blanc wine sharing the same name. This movement is very dreamy and reflective in nature and was inspired by Mark’s exquisite, silky sound. Beatin’ about the Bush! is a celebration of Mark’s highly successful pioneering outreach programme of workshops bringing music to young musicians in the Outback of Australia and beyond. This is a lively movement in 3/8 time designed to display both performers’ dexterity, humour and musicianship.