Wildboy

Forces or Category: Ensemble

Orchestration: cl solo, fl (+picc, afl, crotales), bn, hn, cimb (gong or small tam, 2 w blks, log dr), vln, vla, vc (2 handbells), db (2 handbells)

Concertante for clarinet with cimbalom and seven players (flute, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, double bass)
Itard’s 1801 account of ‘the wild boy of Aveyron’ is the programmatic inspiration behind this concertante.

Programme Note:

The composer writes in a preface to the score:
“In 1801 J.M.G. Itard published a report on his attempts to study, civilise and teach to communicate a boy found running wild in the woods near Aveyron, France. Itards account of the Wild Boy of Aveyron led to new ideas in the education of normal, as well as retarded children, and through the work of Mme. Montessori has influenced many thousands of children today. It was the basis of a film by Francois Truffant: LEnfant Sauvage.”
© Gordon Crosse

“…the work is highly approachable because of its compulsive yet clear argument and its imaginative and attractive exploitation of the sonorities which are possible from the instrumental combination.” – Huw Spratling, Classical Music Weekly