Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Group

The Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Group was composed in Florence, Italy, in 1954; Shapey was there at the time on a Frank Huntington Beebe award. It was premiered in 1955 by the New York Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble with Stanley Drucker as soloist and Shapey conducting. The work was selected to represent the United States at the Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Strasbourg, France [1958]. The Concerto is one of the few of Mr. Shapey?s works that employs a row. The row, however, does note become apparent until the middle movement, the Andante. This movement is the nucleus of the entire work, spreading outward in both directions. Although the work can be described as consisting of separate movements, it is played without interruption. The formal structure takes the shape of a circular movement ? A, B, C, (C being the core of the work) B, A.