Camisis 1 for clarinet, violin, cello and guitar

Description

Back in my student days (1976) we planned a musical event with musicians from Oxford and Cambridge Universities – hence the title Camisis – the Cam being the river that flows through Cambridge
and the Isis being the name of the Thames on the stretch where it flows through Oxford.
The event never took place, so these pieces (Camisis 1 and Camisis 2) are a remembrance of things that never were.
They both reflect some of my feelings of being a student, an adolescent and a religious seeker.

In Camisis 1 here, there is some underlying tragedy. The clarinet has, as it were, the vocal line (which is why I placed the clarinet on the top of the staves) – the words could be the original poem by David Dunning: “Child who leaves the Earth”, but the song was never sung by a voice and the poem is now lost.
The companion piece to this is Camisis 2, which is more peaceful and exultant.

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