Study After Septet was written in 1984-85 as a set with B-bouncing for three clarinets and After Figaro for e flat clarinet. In this case it is another short work of about three minutes duration, scored for solo bass clarinet. It is a relatively tranquil work consisting of rather gentle lapping phrases rocking around a major second intermixed with slow and low crescendos over a sustained minor third. Gradually the rocking phrases move further up the instrument and eventually disappear. The music is quite understated for the most part and plays on the rhythmic freedom possible without barlines and meter. The music is based on a Septet that I had written whilst studying with George Crumb at the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. That piece was a commission from The Seymour Group in Sydney.  The second movement of that work provided the melodic fragment for this new solo piece for bass clarinet.

© Andrew Schultz, 1985.