Trio #12 for clarinet, cello and piano: “Voyageurs,” an homage to Canada (2003)
I. Geese in Flight – Allegro
II. Song of the Voyageurs – Lento
III. Starshadows on Snow – Andante tranquillo
IV. A Majestic Land – Maestoso-Allegro-Grazioso-Impressivo

Twelve is a mighty number and I wanted my twelfth trio for clarinet, cello and piano to be expansive and compelling. I deemed Canada a worthy subject. This great, expansive land, right on our doorstep, so beautiful and so successful, how much America could learn from our neighbor to the north if we were humble enough to think clearly, if we were not already convinced that our country is “number one” in every respect (which, of course, it is not). Health care, music education, public transportation and gun control are four points of comparison that immediately spring to mind. In addition to being an homage to Canada, I also wanted this trio to give the piano a much more prominent part than it had had in the previous trios.

An aural image of geese flying in a V formation opens the first movement, achieved by the instruments spreading upwards and downwards from an opening Eb, the ‘point’ of the V. This figure recurs in the middle of the movement and also ends the movement. The tunes are raw and wild and develop into music that is, at times, bi-tonal and rough-sounding.

The second movement explores an original tune but one written to suggest Celtic music. The voyageurs were the extraordinarily hearty French fur trappers, the first Europeans to go deep into the Canadian wilderness, exploring and gathering beaver pelts in birchbark canoes. The French Canadians were mostly from Bretagne, the Celtic province of France. This mournful tune evokes the vastness of the wilderness and the sadness and solitude found in great, empty places.

The title of the third movement says it all. The final movement begins with a majestic introduction and then a lengthy, raw-boned fugue developing the tune that is heard in the introduction. The music passes through many moods and keys, becoming more graceful and then more expansive. The music of the introduction returns at the end, modified by all the adventures through which it has passed, framing the movement.