Arne Running Music

Welcome

Words from the composer

It is always my goal to write music that expresses emotion in the simplest, most direct, and most colorful way. Intellectual craftsmanship goes into the creation of any art, but too often it becomes an end in itself. For me, if the notes in my mind do not also translate into physical symptoms of emotion (goose bumps and the like), I discard them and search for notes that do.

But words are cheap, and often misleading. So I invite you to actually hear my music: on this site, you may listen to audio excerpts of each composition in my catalog.

Unless otherwise noted, all music may be ordered from this site. Scores and parts are beautifully engraved and carefully edited. Thanks for your interest and curiosity.

About Arne

Arne Running
1943-2016

Arne Running was born and raised in Moorhead, Minnesota. He began studying the clarinet at age eleven, and only six years later was performing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra. Although he composed a number of works during his high school years, his writing came to a temporary halt when he entered Boston's New England Conservatory of Music. While studying there, the demands of acquiring proficiency on his chosen instrument left little time for composition. Additionally, the prevailing style of music composed in this country during his Conservatory years, the 1960s, was foreign to his personal, tonality-based style of writing.

After receiving his Bachelor of Music degree from the Conservatory, Running attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where he received a Master of Music degree. Following graduation, he began a busy career as a freelance musician in Philadelphia, performing as principal clarinetist with the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra, and the Philly Pops Orchestra, as well as substituting with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also been a member of several contemporary music ensembles, including Penn Contemporary Players, Network for New Music, and Orchestra 2001. As a conductor, he has worked with youth, All-State, community, university and professional orchestras.

At age thirty-three, after a seventeen-year hiatus, Running began to compose once again. This was in 1976, and the country's musical climate had become more accepting of diverse compositional styles. His first composition was Chorale and Capriccio for Band, and the publication and international acceptance of this work gave him renewed confidence in his personal compositional voice. Works written since then have been commissioned by a variety of ensembles, including the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Olaf College Band, and the Berks Classical Children's Chorus.

Running's catalog of works is not large. This is partly out of necessity (his performing career was a busy one), but it is primarily a matter of quality control: if circumstances were not conducive to completing good work, the work was left undone. He believed, "It is easy to compose notes. It is not so easy to make sure the notes are telling the composer's story truthfully."