Jackson, Gabriel: Eurydice

for solo clarinet Eurydice is based on a work by the great Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay – a series of six large stones installed in a garden in Provence, set in a sea of lavender (representing water) and inscribed with a simple poetic text, each line of which begins with ‘Eurydice’ and is followed by a natural phenomenon, ‘the mountain-tops’, ‘the oaks’ etc. The piece is in eleven sections. Each section begins with a refrain – ‘Eurydice’ – followed by differently characterized music for ‘the woods’, ‘the clouds’ etc.