Reed and Brass

Reed and Brass (five more duets for B-flat clarinet and B-flate trumpet) was commissioned by Dwight Aspinwall in memory of his and his brother Brian's father, Duncan P. Aspinwall. The combination of clarinet and trumpet is somewhat unusual and there hasn't been much repertoire available. The brothers Aspinwall, who play clarinet and trumpet respectively, had come across the first set of Five Duets (PCET1000), liked them, and wanted more. The challenge for the composer is to write interesting music for these two medodic but very different sounding instruments, and doing so some forty years after the first set was...intriguing. Aside from the use of a harmon mute for the trumpet in one duet, neither instrument is asked to do anything special. The focus is on the playful interplay between clarinet and trumpet.