Clarinettist Sarah Watts has commissioned and will give the world premiere of Ailís Ní Ríain's Counterweight for contrabass clarinet, sound and film at ClarinetFest 2024 taking place in Dublin on 3rd August 2024.

A counterweight is a weight that balances another weight. Here it serves as a metaphor to recognise the universal need for balance and to acknowledge the challenging impacts of exclusion, inequality and discrimination on the individual.

The piece explores alienation, the isolation of being excluded and the self-doubt this can provoke. The opening section is decidedly fragile; cold, harsh, metallic from there the piece cycles through a series of emotional states. At times reflective or emphatic; resolved or insistent.

The accompanying audio situates itself in a landscape of cymbals, synths and altered piano; at times caressing, others brutal in its annihilation.

The contrabass itself representing the individual suspended between layers of frustration, resignation, provocation and ultimately leading to a place of bruised resolve and firm conviction to simply, go on.

Commissioned by Sarah Watts in partnership with the University of Sheffield and generously funded by the Higher Education Innovation Fund