“With Plastovy Hrad, Elliott Sharp presents three diverse compositions,dynamic and sonically bracing, that reveal a few common elements. On themost immediate level it is clear that the bass clarinet serves a primaryrole in each, whether featured as a solo instrument with the orchestra inPlastovy Hrad, providing commentary and amplification in Turing Test, orfunctioning as the orchestra itself in Oumuamua.
Though very different infeel and affect, all three make use of compositional strategies unique to Sharp’s work. The piece Plastovy Hrad is a work for chamber orchestra thatis dramatic, dark, and labyrinthine. Turing Test is a mini-opera, a blackcomedy about entities in search of themselves. Finally, Oumuamua is a soloexploration of electroacoustic processing of the bass clarinet.”
