Untitled: Three Miniatures

for Clarinet Bass Clarinet Piano Violin and Cello-(untitled) was the name of a store in the SoHo section of Manhattan that sold nothing but art postcards -- thousands of them. I had three such postcards taped to the music rack of my piano and one day in early 1968 I decided towrite a set of musical miniatures somehow depicting these paintings. The first “Perro ladrando a la luna” by Miró is the most literal. The opening sustained chord represents the horizon line the risingclarinet duo is a ladder with five rungs (the piano chords). The piano tremolo at the end is the moon shining and the violin as the dog barks at it. I consider this piece to be my Opus Zero the first piece where I managed toachieve my musical goals.