This work was commissioned by English
Serenata and received its first performance in May 1987. The sextet is
dedicated to the memory of Howard Walker, clarinettist and founder
member of English Serenata, following his tragic death in a car
accident.
Woolfenden’s
Prelude, In Memoriam and Finale for wind sextet could be a
useful companion piece for Janacek’s Mladi for the same combination of
wind quintet and bass clarinet. This is in a more serious vein than the
Suite Française
and contains music of great emotional power as well as passages of
energetic flow.
