Angela's Solo Performances
“Mike Boyman’s Clarinet Concerto was played with glittering showmanship by Angela Shankar in this world premiere.
...with tones of utmost purity–and a pathos in the second movement–it displayed Ms. Shankar’s dexterity and Mr. Boyman’s workmanship.”
Program Notes for Concerto for Clarinet, by Michael Boyman, dedicated to and premiered by Angela on 9/22/22:
MICHAEL BOYMAN (B. 1989)
This piece was born of the pandemic and reflects the troubled times in which it was written. It is a tragic clarinet concerto. Like the other music on this program, it has no implied story, relying instead on abstract forms to convey its emotions and message. The first movement, entitled "Storm and Stress," is a throwback to the classical concerto of Mozart and Beethoven. It is in sonata form and has a double exposition, meaning the orchestra introduces the main musical ideas, after which the solo clarinet enters and provides her own take on the material. Following a turbulent development and recapitulation, the solo clarinet plays a cadenza, or an extended unaccompanied solo. This serves as a meditation on the musical ideas and foreshadows what is to come. The orchestra rejoins and crescendos to a shattering climax.
The second movement, entitled “Chaconne Fantasy,” uses a repeating and descending bass line as its foundation. It opens with a mournful melody in the English horn, followed by the solo clarinet rhapsodizing above the chaconne bass. After an orchestral interjection, the solo clarinet breaks free of the bass to present a new tranquil melody that acts as a reprieve from an otherwise gloomy atmosphere. The orchestra takes up this melody, only to have the mournful opening idea reemerge in the strings, followed by the chaconne bass. After a dissonant climax, the music slowly winds down, with the solo clarinet in dialogue with bassoon and English horn, each playing fragments of melody.
The third movement, entitled “Toccata & Trio,” is a study in perpetual motion and features a jagged and rhythmically irregular theme in the solo clarinet and woodwinds, reminiscent of the first movement. A more lyrical central trio section, with the solo clarinet in dialogue with the brass, provides some relief from the otherwise unrelenting forward momentum of the toccata, which the solo clarinet rides like a wave to the very end. — Michael Boyman https://www.michaelboyman.com/
Angela with conductor matthew aubin (left) and composer michael boyman (right)
Angela performed the Artie Shaw Concerto with the Garden State Philharmonic in Tom’s River, NJ, on April 28, 2018, and additionally on October 23rd and 24th, 2015, with The Chelsea Symphony at the DiMenna Center in New York City.
Click the above image to hear Angela perform Seth Bedford's 'Concertino' in three movements with The Chelsea Symphony. The piece was dedicated to her and was premiered on May 6, 2012.
