Compositons for clarinet feature quite rarely in the oeuvre (echoing, maybe, love-hate relationships with the instrument): a very early Fantasia for clarinet and string orchestra (written for his first wife) has not survived. Two fine musicians from Ramsgate, however, Malcolm Macmillan and Keith Cole restored the instrument to his affections resulting, firstly, in a Concerto for Clarinet, and latterly, a Sonata. As ever, the music of the Sonata resulted from suggestions or associations shared between composer and instrumentalists: the use of tremolando figuration, for instance, and the echt-Brahmsian threes against twos in the piano writing, and (again, deliberately Brahmsian) ebb and flow of the harmonic structure.
Collaboration with the solo double bassist Bronwen Naish resulted in an arrangement of Scarborough Fair for bass and piano as well as the Concerto for Double Bass. Recital Music has since released a number of short works for double bass and piano, including The Pleiades, and Burlesque.
