It was composed in the summer of 2012 at the Hermitage Artist Retreat and was first performed on November 3, 2012, in Germantown, Tennessee by the violinists Jennifer Koh and Jaime Laredo with the IRIS Orchestra under conductor Michael Stern.
Composed specifically for Jennifer Koh and her mentor at the Curtis Institute of Music, Jaime Laredo, this thread was in the foreground of my imagination as a dialogue between the soloists and ensemble.
[1] Reviewing the December 2012 Chicago premiere, Lawrence A. Johnson of the Chicago Classical Review compared the work favorably to Clyne's previous composition Within Her Arms and wrote, "Prince of Clouds is wrought with Clyne's characteristic craft and care, and offers the composer's brand of reflective introspection that is consistently attractive.
Brutal, raspy percussive interludes appear suddenly, like slashes of the knife on the music, but sweet melody always returns, swooping with ever more determination.
In the score, Clyne gives the players alluringly contradictory instructions, such as "beautiful with unease," which pretty much sums up Prince of Clouds.