![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jonathan-Cziner_1.webp\")
<\/p>\nCollaboration yields beautiful things. When the Dallas Symphony Orchestra debuts Jon Cziner\u2019s new piece, Clarinet Concerto, Nov. 20 \u2013 22 at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, the audience will hear the result of a multi-year collaboration between the composer and the orchestra\u2019s Principal Clarinet, Gregory Raden.<\/p>\n
Raden initially approached the Dallas-based composer and artistic director of Dallas\u2019 Voices for Change before the pandemic about a project for a clarinet and a quartet. The project stalled during the pandemic. Eventually, Cziner and Raden revisited the project, redeveloping it into a much larger piece.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a much different piece than it was when it was first composed, but a lot of the ideas in that original piece which is about nine minutes long and for five instruments made its way into this much larger-scale three-movement work for full orchestra and Greg, solo clarinet,\u201d Cziner said.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tJon Cziner<\/p>\n
\t\t\tJon Cziner<\/p>\n
As artistic director of Dallas’ Voices of Change, Cziner is a champion of new music.<\/p>\n
Cziner and Raden are from neighboring towns in Westchester County in New York and both are from Jewish families.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat very much influenced some of my thinking in terms of the last movement which I see as this very klezmer-inspired piece, a dance, if you will. And the first two movements are very inspired by more spiritual Jewish music you might hear in a synagogue and Greg takes on the role of a cantor who leads the musical portions of services,\u201d Cziner said.<\/p>\n
Thematically, the work speaks to what is going on in the world now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of the work that we live in today, there\u2019s a lot going on in the world and it\u2019s a very dark and violent place,\u201d Cziner said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of sadness in this piece. There\u2019s a lot of anguish in this piece, but there\u2019s a lot of hope for peace and a better future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raden, who has served as the orchestra\u2019s Principal Clarinet since 1999, appreciates how this piece shows off what the clarinet can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has a really wide range of capability in terms of the instrument love to high, volume, color. And I also find it to be a very vocal instrument. To me, that\u2019s so appealing because we\u2019re always trying to be like great singers. I think the best musicians and the best wind players think vocally and I think the clarinet is a really good vehicle for that. Jon\u2019s piece really explores that range a lot,\u2019 Raden said. \u201cThe clarinet sings, but the clarinet also screams and cries. There are real tests of the range and volume, very high extreme stuff and very low, quiet things and everything in-between so it\u2019s a very good vehicle to witness the clarinet\u2019s capabilities and range.\u201d<\/p>\n
The solo clarinet\u2019s relationship varies throughout the piece.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of it is call and response, playing of each other back and forth. The second movement of the piece is a cadenza, quite an extensive cadenza where it is just the clarinet alone. Halfway through the cadenza, the orchestra joins in, coloring and responding and reacting. The last movement is a frolic for everyone,\u201d Raden said.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tDSO\/Sylvia Elzafon<\/p>\n
\t\t\tDSO\/Sylvia Elzafon<\/p>\n
Raden has been the orchestra’s Principal Clarinet since 1999.<\/p>\n
The orchestration builds throughout the work, beginning with strings, harp, percussion and celeste in the first movement, adding winds and horns in the second movement and finally the horns join in the third movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see this or hear this philosophically as coming together or feeling empty at the beginning and moving and feeling fulfilled at the end,\u201d Cziner said.<\/p>\n
Playing a world premiere allows Raden some artistic freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t have the familiarity factor for the listener, so they are getting something they\u2019ve never heard before and you\u2019re always interested in how they are going to perceive it and react and hopefully in a positive way,\u2019 Raden said.<\/p>\n
Cziner and Raden have enjoyed the collaborative process of creating the concerto. Cziner does not play the clarinet, and he has worked with Raden to edit the part and refine ideas to fit the instrument and his playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I really appreciate as a collaborative spirit,\u201d Cziner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. You think of the past great composers and what it would have been like to ask them questions and collaborate and here we have that,\u201d Raden said.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tJon Cziner<\/p>\n
\t\t\tJon Cziner<\/p>\n
As artistic director of Voices of Change, Cziner is a champion of new music.<\/p>\n
This new work is featured on a program that combines new works with music written by the great masters, including Beethoven\u2019s Leonore\u00a0Overture No. 3, Mozart\u2019s\u00a0Symphony No. 40 in G minor, and another world premiere, <\/strong>Moni Jasmine Gijo\u2019s\u00a0\u201cthe sound of where i came from\u201d. The eclectic program highlights the role of new music in the classical music world.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe a vibrant arts scene in any place needs new art, new music because living composers and living artists can express elements and important theme of our time,\u2019 Cziner said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this piece, his reaction to what\u2019s has been going on in the world, while some of the things are unfortunately repeats of history in some ways, it is still important to have that real-time reaction and influence in art and music,\u201d Raden said.<\/p>\n