The Day Florestan Murdered Magister Raro (Chamber Music)

for clarinet, violin, cello, & piano
The Day Florestan Murdered Magister Raro was the winner of the 1999 Left Coast Chamber Ensemble Composition Competition and received its West Coast premier by that ensemble in 2000. Florestan and Magister Raro are characters found in Schumann’s piano character pieces. Florestan is the wild, free tune that perhaps needs to be put in its place. Magister Raro, actually Schumann himself, is the wise, controlling voice that made sense of the proceedings. It does seem at times in this work as though the tunes have overtaken the good sense of the composer. The quick cuts and tiny quotes (mainly Schumann and Messiaen – the quartet’s namesake) reflect the quick-cutting, hyperactive attention spans of television, especially cartoons.

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