Andris Dzenītis

Mirroring (Spoguļos)

Mirroring (Spoguļos) is a new 17 minute sonata for clarinet and piano by one of Latvia's leading composers, Andris Dzenītis. The composer writes: "Historically, the peculiarity of the sonata form is contrast, collision and its resolution, transformation. In my sonata, I look at this paradigm through the principle of versions, in two parts, as if in mirrors, reflecting the same image from different angles. The material (landscape) used is different, but the expression, although different in temperament, is ultimately similar. In both parts, the material gradually transforms from diatonic to chromatically thickened, and as a result of an unexpected transformation, returns to the original. In the first part, the diatonic is as temperamental and powerful as its intensified variant, ending in an unexpectedly meditative, blurred piano solo. In the second part, fragile, romanticized clarity, with the help of an expanded clarinet solo, slowly transforms into a harsh, as if unwanted triumph of escalation, to evaporate into a steaming, innocent morning dew. These are two landscapes about a human without nature and nature without human". This is a valuable new addition to the contemporary repertoire for clarinet.