Quartet for oboe, two clarinets and bassoon.
1. …amid squalls of fireworks…
2. …in a monkey suit…
3. …on stilts/blindfolded…
4. …in the dark.
The Funambulist’s Daring Feats is a quartet for oboe, two clarinets (B flat & A) and bassoon in four movements.
Each movement is inspired by a different journey made across the gorge at Niagara Falls by the master tightrope-walker Charles Blondin. The infamous French nineteenth-century funambulist was so adept at his craft that he crossed the 1,100 foot long chasm seventeen times, each time in a different fashion.
The Quartet is published by Emerson Edition, the specialist publisher of music for wind instruments and can be bought from www.juneemersonwindmusic.com (Emerson Edition E548).
The excerpts to be heard here were recorded at the Purcell School in the summer of 2007 by Sue Treherne (oboe), Claire Baughan & Jonathan Cooper (clarinets) & Nick Rampley (bassoon).
