Please note that the 'score and parts' set for this work only contains one of each instrumental part. If you require extra string parts, please ensure you purchase the 'string part supplement' for additional materials (additional string parts forces: 4.4.3.3.1).
Commissioned in memory of Thea King (clarinet), Jane Fletcher (bassoon) and Jennet Campbell (flute), three inspirational woodwind players in the musical life of Cornwall.
Early in 2021 I was asked by Emma Campbell, a trustee of the Radford Trust and a friend of many years’ standing, to write a solo piece for a clarinettist of around Grade 6 to 7 standard, and I was delighted to accept. The orchestra is made of seven instruments (flute, bassoon, string quartet and double bass), though a larger string group can be used if desired. A piano reduction is also available.
The inspiration is Carricknath Point, the headland at the southern entrance of St Mawes Harbour. This has a special significance both for me – many childhood holidays were spent in St Mawes (in the cottage where my father had lived as a small boy during the Second World War), exploring the area by water and on foot, and a constant of those holidays was the view over to the Point. Another family link: after the war my grandmother Maisie Stephens, who lived in St Mawes for many years, was involved with replanting the pine trees that are such a feature of Carricknath Point, to replace some that had died. The Point also has great significance for Emma Campbell, who has long and enduring family links to nearby Bohortha and St Anthony in Roseland.
As seen from St Mawes, the Point has a distinctive shape, beginning on high ground at the left of the field of view, then as your eye moves to the right it falls fairly quickly then more gradually over fields; finally it drops away sharply to the sea, interrupted by the stand of pine trees. I have transcribed this shape into musical form, with a line that starts high (on a D) falls quite quickly then more gradually, rises briefly over the pines then falls precipitously down to a unison low note (an E flat): the sea. Throughout Carricknath there is a conflict between these two pitches (D and E flat) that remains unresolved until the final bar, and extended use of a synthetic scale that contains ever sharper notes as it rises in pitch.
The solo clarinet part is prominent throughout, often giving the melodic lead, presenting new ideas, or providing a countermelody, and makes the most of both the wide range of the instrument and its inherent singing tone, as well as its capacity for sharply accented and staccato passages. The flute and bassoon both also have moments in the limelight, and sometimes the wind instruments work as a trio. The piece is structured in the form of a free rondo, with the descending Carricknath motif as the rondo theme, and a variety of linked themes and contrasting material interspersed with it.
Carricknath is both an exploration and a celebration of the landscape and character of this special piece of Cornish coastline. In a single movement, it takes about 13 minutes to perform.
