Davies's feeling for the potency and bravura of the clarinet goes back to works of the 1960s; his concerto for the instrument is predictably a big ranging piece in two linked movements. The first fast with a brief slowintroduction has the soloist in propulsive melodic flights slipping over into florid runs but it is a virtuoso piece for the orchestra especially for the marimba and pair of horns. The Adagio that follows is in the spare cold birdcall-riven style of other recent Davies slow movements exploiting first the clarinet's low register and then at its climax the instrument's high extremes. A cadenza leads to the coda where Davies introduces a Scots tune previously hinted at with which he brings the work to an end in F sharp major.Clarinet part with piano reduction of the orchestral score.

This work which was written shortly after the Trumpet Sonata and the Five Pieces For Piano was first performed by Georgina Dobree and the composer at the 1957 Darmstadt Festival. The score was subsequently lost but wasrediscovered by Kevin Corner in 1983.'This is a dramatic emphatic and at times extravagant piece. The first movement is a Moderato reaching through wide-flung clarinet lines and keen piano gestures to a great climax near theend. Then comes a quick movement a kind of demonic scherzo including a cadenza for the clarinettist. The finale is an Adagio that gradually achieves a sort of simplicity though not before exceedingly testing times for bothplayers.Duration c. 25mins.