Corigliano described the inspiration for the Clarinet Concerto in the score program notes, writing:My associations as a child – attending rehearsals and performances with my father, who was then the concertmaster of the [New York] Philharmonic – gave me the opportunity of getting to know many of the men in the orchestra both as artists and friends.
I was aware that, with a wind concerto, this is a potentially dangerous thing to do – to solve problems of balance most such pieces are discreetly scored for small ensembles – but it provided me with a fascinating challenge.
Knowing his special gifts enabled me to write music of unprecedented difficulty for the solo instrument, and gave me the idea that generates the first movement; the opening cadenza.
The third movement "Antiphonal Toccata" was composed as Corigliano's "solution to the balance problems created by using the full orchestra in a wind concerto;" this movement features a number of antiphonal performers and quotes the Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli's 1597 composition Sonata pian' e forte.
"[4] A. Ashby of Gramophone described the piece as "full to bursting with antiphony and visual spectacle" and specifically lauded the third movement, saying it "has a poise and sense of shape that fairly take the breath away.