Sean William Calhoun | Composer and pianist

Wellspring, for solo bass clarinet (2018) – 6'

Wellspring was composed for clarinetist and composer Nick Morandi. It is a passacaglia, its line consisting of three wide ascending intervals, followed by a low melody that circles back to the beginning. Successive variations build around this line, forming new melodic figures, or extracting motives from the line into their own developments beyond their original presence in it. One of my favorite aspects about clarinets in general, and the bass clarinet in particular, is their wide range, and Wellspring takes advantage of that, spanning slightly over a four-octave range over the course of the piece.