Issue No. 23: Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good
Dr. Cheyenne Cruz, dedicatee of Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good for solo bass clarinet
Sometimes collaborations take a while to actually come into existence. I have known Dr. Cheyenne Cruz for a dozen years but only recently had the occasion to compose a work for her. The result was Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good for solo bass clarinet - a three-minute piece that is all fury, funk, madness, and groove. Cheyenne recently premiered the work at UT Arlington’s Virtual Clarinet Day.
The title is derived by combining our individual personalities as understood through the lens of Dungeons & Dragons alignments - mine (chaotic neutral) and Cheyenne’s (chaotic good).
In my mind this piece is a fusion of Parliament-Funkadelic, Elliott Carter, Lee Hyla, and Ornette Coleman. The composition slowly builds from a repeated syncopated motive consisting of just a few pitch classes to frantic twelve-tone free-jazz wailing. The erratic shifts of meter offset the head-nodding impulse of the groove - but not enough (hopefully) to make it annoying for the listener.
I also exploited Cheyenne’s absolute mastery of all registers of her instrument - from the lowest, gravelly C at the onset of the piece to the note four octaves above it in the work’s conclusion. Quite a journey in three brief, jamming minutes! Check out her fantastic UT Arlington Virtual Clarinet Day performance by clicking the video below.
Cheyenne is a brilliant interpreter of my music and we look forward to continuing our collaborative adventures together…
Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good, mm. 1-10
Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good, mm. 53-60
Video performance of Chaotic Neutral/Chaotic Good by Cheyenne Cruz (follow her on Instagram: cheyennebbcruz)