Clownery for Clarinets by Harry Stalpers. Metropolis Music, 1997, SS, (includes score). For three B-flat clarinets and bass clarinet. This piece is similar to a version for clarinet choir (our C2052) written in 1984 by the Dutch composer Harry Stalpers (1926-2001) for the Clarinet Choir Walter Boeykens. "The clown, his entry in the ring, followed by an uninterrupted series of quickly changing movements and emotions, from acrobatics to sill somersaults, from excessive joy to childlike sorrow, beginning and ending with circus music, sometimes interrupted by the laughter of the 'highly esteemed audience.'" The is a challenging quartet with mixed meter and an improvised blues solo that can be played by any of the soprano clarinetists. Duration about 8:00. Here is a video of this piece being performed by the Mariinsky Clarinet Club. (C1411)