Setting a misery-guts.

Mel Bay's Complete Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Book - There are no actual tunes in this book, just loads of short examples, so after picking my way through a few I gave up and moved on to yet another new project. I'm writing a fairly bleak minimalist setting of Where Once Poe Walked by H.P.Lovecraft. I'm setting it for piano, clarinet and soprano. Obviously not being a pianist, I'm unable to imbue their part with any playability or musicality, so all they get to do is play big octaves and long clashing chords. The reason for creating this ugly monster? I've been commissioned by a soprano (Ailsa Mainwaring) to write a tune for her to yodel. However, I know how fussy singers can be so I'm going to write a suite of numbers so she gets to choose, or take them all if she so desires. The tune so far is "modern" in sound (whatever that means), but I find I'm unable to avoid tonality (which I'm sure the singer will be pleased about). I don't actually think much of the brand of modernism that completely rejects tonality, but I do love the darker, edgier sounds of, say, Bartok, in his fabulous two-handed opera, Bluebeard's Castle, so that is the level I'm aiming for. Nowhere near the sophistication of course. I'll give her a chance to sing it before posting any instrumental versions up here.