The great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda wrote a series of 100 Love Sonnets (Cien sonetos de amor) inspired by his wife Matilde Urrutia.   He wrote to her: “When I set this task for myself, I knew very well that down the right side of sonnets, with elegant discriminating taste, poets of all times have arranged rhymes that sounded like silver, or crystal, or cannonfire. But - with great humility - I made these sonnets out of wood; I gave them the sound of that opaque pure substance, and that is how they should reach your ears… Now that I have declared the foundations of my love, I surrender this century to you; wooden sonnets that rise only because you gave them life.”

Neruda’s Sonnets encompass far more than simple tributes to beauty; they celebrate all dimensions of love, from subtle caresses to fits of jealousy. I Surrender uses the expressive and wide-ranging voice of the clarinet to convey these emotions. This instrument, created of wood, perfectly captures the earthy passion and erotic mystery of Neruda’s poetic imagination.