Gnarly Buttons
Clarinet and Piano

Series: Boosey & Hawkes Chamber Music
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Composer: John Adams
44 Pages

 

Gnarly Buttons is a 26-minute concerto for clarinet and small orchestra about the enduring influence made on Adams by his father, a clarinetist. It traces the instrument from the innocent and "cool" times of Benny Goodman to Adams' father's struggle with Alzheimer's in a complex world more about the pressing of buttons.