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Download a PDF file of the full score of this composition.
Download a PDF file of the solo flute part score of this composition. String parts available upon request.
One Clear Call, for flute and strings, was inspired by the opening lines of the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Crossing the Bar."
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea.
The "one clear call" may be heard in the simple opening phrase of an octave leap (Cs), resolving downward a semitone to B. This motive symbolizes simplicity and clarity (the Cs) and the "putting out to sea" (the rising and falling wavelike pitch pattern).
This extended one-movement work is shaped in rondo form. The theme returns many times, each time separated by contrasting sections. These "divergencies" explore different textures (dialogue between flute and pizzicato bass), different tonalities (a middle section in the key of C Minor) and different meters (an energetic 6/8 passage).
A cadenza fills the closing section, followed by a final entrance by the strings. The music ends with the flute sustaining alone the high C - the clear call of the soul heading out to sea.
Notes by the composer