Category: Chamber Music
Instrumentation: woodwind quintet
Duration: 6+ minutes
Publisher: ALRY Publications
Text / Source: Inspired by the Irish folk song The Parting Glass; also quotes Katie ni Dhuibhir

A Parting Glass is a work for woodwind quintet inspired by Garth Baxter’s trip to Ireland in the fall of 2016. Taking its title from the popular Irish folk song The Parting Glass, the piece draws several motives from that melody and reshapes them through Baxter’s lyrical, formally clear, and contemporary tonal language.

The work also quotes the more obscure Irish folk song Katie ni Dhuibhir, whose name was used in 18th-century Irish poetry as a poetic sobriquet for Ireland. Through these folk references, Baxter creates a chamber work that is both warmly evocative and carefully crafted, balancing Irish melodic character with the color and flexibility of the modern woodwind quintet.

Scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon, A Parting Glass offers each player opportunities for lyrical ensemble dialogue and folk-inflected phrasing. Its compact duration and clear Irish inspiration make it especially suitable for chamber programs featuring music connected to travel, memory, folk tradition, or national identity.