In early December of 2020, shortly after the completion of my "Suite of Minimalism," my father asked me in high spirits to write a piece specifically for him before I move off to college. I agreed, and I began thinking of a project special enough for him. Quickly, I settled on the idea of writing a clarinet sonata, with the intention to perform the piece myself during a future recital.

The piece was planned to be two movements long, but there was not enough creative steam to finish the second movement. Writing the first movement, I used the percussive, minimalistic elements I love to create a piece challenging the range of the piano and clarinet. There are robotic, articulate high note passages in the clarinet to bring color to the performance hall, and a constant drive forward during the first and last thirds of the piece. The middle section starts as a delicate and somber piano solo with held clarinet notes, before settling into a rubato "push-pull" feel. Once the middle section concludes, I brought back the energetic and percussive power, but the phrases quickly jump between each other. It is meant to feel like an anxious recap of the start, but it fizzles out into a beautiful final moment as a callback to the introduction.

Stained Glass feels like a fitting name to me, as there is this beautiful color splashed throughout the piece in the varying ranges, harmonies, dynamics, and articulations of the clarinet and piano. While there are loud and powerful sections, there remains a delicate quality to the whole piece.

This piece received a review from Zachary Dierickx in the December 2021 “The Clarinet” magazine by the International Clarinet Association (ICA) with praise, described as “an engaging work for performer and audience alike.”