As with Mozart writing clarinet works for Anton Stadler or Brahms for Richard Mühlfeld, Jandali (MalekJandali.com) wrote this work specifically for Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, artistic director of Juiliard’s Music Advancement Program; and professor at both the Juilliard School and Curtis Institute. Says Jandali, ‘ Anthony for the first time on June 15, 2018, at the League of American Orchestras’ 73rd National Conference in Chicago and asked him if he would be interested in having a clarinet concerto written for him, and he said yes!” Written primarily in 2019 in New York City and Atlanta and completed in February 2021, the work is dedicated to McGill “in memory of all victims of injustice” and, like all of Jandali’s works, is infused with ancient themes from Jandali’s homeland as a means of preservation.

Reflecting on that dedication during the recording sessions in Vienna in May 2022, McGill said, “In the midst of the pain and the violence and injustice in the world al we are left with is the ability to pour our hearts and our souls into something more beautiful, into something more powerful, so it can communicate throughout all time and live on” He also reflected on how deeply the work affected him: “There are so many moments in this piece that really, really spoke to me deeply. And when I’m playing them, it makes me connected to something that maybe I wasn’t familiar with before. And that’s an amazing feeling to try to step inside the hearts of the Syrian people.”

Marin Alsop, who has worked with Jandali for many years on many different projects, emphasizes the moral thread that runs through Jandali’s music. “Malek composes in some ways very traditionally because he uses notation and techniques that the instrumentalists are familiar with; but like Bartók did, like Dvorák did, he uses his cultural folk music as a real underpinning for developing these themes, developing these ideas. But the most important part of the story always is the moral. My job is to find the moral to the story and get that across, and Malek’s music is very, very strong in its intentionality and its desire to really stand up for those who don’t have a voice.”

Melodic fragments emerge out of the mysterious orchestral introduction. colored by “ticking” xylophone interjections and rustling flutter-tonguing and tremolos, al coalescing into the solo clarinet’s entrance. A judicious pause brings on the first main theme, which comes from a wasla (cycle of instrumental and vocal pieces) in the Hiiaz Kar madam – a traditional muwashshah called “Zarani al Mahboub” (My beloved visited me), specifically in the Masmoudi rhythm. After a sprightly continuation, another pause brings on the second main theme- an ancient Syrian sama’i- also in the clarinet. McGill singles out this soft theme as particularly moving, saying “It has this rhythm that makes me feel as though I’ve stepped back in time, that l’m connecting into something much, much greater than myself.” The clarinet part becomes incredibly virtuosic, often landing on a flutter-tongued note representing the pleas of the victims of injustice. The ternary form comes full circle with a return to the first theme.

The finale grows out of the quiet of the preceding movement with steady periodic splashes
of struck suspended cymbals. The energetic first theme is based on an old Syrian bashraf in 4/4 meter, which soon becomes dazzlingly virtuosic for the clarinetist. The quieter second theme, also introduced by the clarinet, stems from a traditional Syrian wasla in the Bayati maqam, namely the muwashshah “Ya hilou al lama”(roughly “Oh sweet one and smiling”). Striking orchestral effects, ranging in pitch from extremely low to extremely high, lead to an acrobatic cadenza that shows of the clarinet in all its registers. The work concludes with a vigorous, festive dance for all that offers a suggestion of light and hope in the midst of darkness.