'The Streets of Forbes' is a beautiful slow air from the Australian folk tradition. The song is a lament, almost a funeral march, for bushranger Ben Hall, a 'Robin Hood' figure, who was betrayed to the police and shot as he lay sleeping.
The clarinets take turns with the melody in the first verse. In the second, the upper register of the lower instrument is deliberately used over accompanying clarinets for its hollow quality; I originally intended it for bassoon but bass clarinet is just... (more)

'The Streets of Forbes' is a beautiful slow air from the Australian folk tradition. The song is a lament, almost a funeral march, for bushranger Ben Hall, a 'Robin Hood' figure, who was betrayed to the police and shot as he lay sleeping.
The clarinets take turns with the melody in the first verse. In the second, the upper register of the lower instrument is deliberately used over accompanying clarinets for its hollow quality; I originally intended it for bassoon but bass clarinet is just as effective.
I later transcribed this arrangement for alto and tenor recorders and published it through Cootamundra Music.

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