Alan Cameron: Displacement [download]

Composition for clarinet, violin and piano, first performed in the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow on 7th February 2004 by Two's Company.

This short piece for clarinet, violin and piano portrays in a stark, programmatic way the mental agony of people displaced from their homeland. The lost and confused emotions are reflected through the use of twelve-note row technique. The thin texture fluctuates between neo-classical and neo-romantic and transposed segments of the row are developed as pseudo-classical motifs. In this brief personal interpretation of twelve-note practice the music heads for a brutal conclusion with a rhythmically varied piano ostinato. The refugees' initial questioning of their predicament ultimately leads to panic and desperation, and in the final two chords, anger and rage. In a world of abundant material prosperity, the homeless and displaced deserve better.