Joe Stollery

This short fantasy for bass clarinet was written in a few days in late May 2020, as a response to a challenge from Red Note Ensemble to compose a 5-minute solo piece for a randomly selected instrument.

A couple of weeks before, I was excited to see a fox hunting in a field outside my family house. This was the first time I saw such a creature in person, and so for the challenge I decided to exploit this premise by creating a short ‘vulpine’ scherzo, making full use of runs, arpeggios and even key-slams on the bass clarinet, as well as swift, abrupt changes in movement and behaviour. The piece frequently shifts between fast and slow sections, almost like the eponymous animal hunting, then lying in ambush, before quickly pouncing on its next victim.