Mamlok, Ursula: Alariana

for recorder or flute, clarinet, bassoon, violin and cello

To mark the 100th birthday of Ursula Mamlok (1923 - 2016), Boosey & Hawkes Bote & Bock, in collaboration with the Dwight and Ursula Mamlok Foundation, is publishing a series of works from the composer's estate that were not published during her lifetime. Alariana, composed in 1985, is in many respects a "typical Mamlok": The mixed instrumentation of winds and strings in distant registers makes for a transparent sound, the movement is airily polyphonic, and the five aphoristically short movements, together lasting about seven minutes, follow classical movement types in a contrastful alternation of characters. Of particular charm are a passacaglia over ostinato bassoon staccatos in the middle section of the fourth movement and the quiet ending of the fifth movement.