CLARA'S ASCENT for string quartet (or stringorchestra) features the solo cello in a lyrical andintricately contrapuntal work. The cello serves asprotagonist as well as a fulcrum point, on and aroundwhich the other player's musical force-fields bloom,rotate, and proliferate.Although highly notated, precise, carefully structured,soundly proportioned, and while musicians areelegantly working from a nuanced, specific text, I likemy music to have the feeling that it is organically beingself-propelled –on the spot - as if we listeners areoverhearing (capturing) an un-notated improvisation.This short work celebrates the manner in which themusicians embody sound. Musical transformations andcarefully crafted connections unfold with a naturalimpulse. An optimistic, flexible-sounding, sonorousascending journey weaves itself forward as if it isspinning innately out of their instruments.In the most general of terms, the form of the work is a6-minute crescendo during which the soloist movesfrom the very lowest notes up to the highest possible,reaching as if the soloist is trying to kiss the sky.On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth ofClara Schumann, this work honours the legacy andcontributions of a pioneering performer, caringcollaborator and artistic confidant. Augusta Read Thomas