Search results for: 'Quartet for brass'

SATB:

Fort Worth Funk was written to provide a light-hearted, engaging selection for Saxophone Quartet.  It begins with a dramatic statement from the Baritone Saxophone, who lays down the opening groove.  The other members of the quartet enter one at a time, while the composition builds to a virtuostic moment for the full quartet.  The staggered entrances also provide an opportunity to stage theatrics as well.  Appropriate rhythms and articulations are meticulously notated to help players achieve an authentic “funk” style in their performance.  The piece is loosely based on the chord changes to the jazz standard “Well You Needn’t”, which appears briefly in swing style at the end of the piece.  Chord changes and written solos are provided during the improvised sections, to bring the piece within the grasp of a wide spectrum of players. 

In eleven movements, this work can for Saxophone Quartet be played by Soprano Sax, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax and Baritone Sax or 2 Alto Saxes, Tenor Sax and Baritone Sax.

Each works presents various challenges, but more than anything else the movements force the group to work together as a unit. It is highly recommended for a High School ensemble and beyond.

Written for Baritone Saxophone and Piano, this is a challening work that is most suited for a college age student. 

Program notes from the composer:

Just as Chagall mixed landscapes, characters, and creatures into a surreal concoction in his paintings, Chagallian Scenes does so in music. So we might start with a march only to dissolve into a waltz with flashes of dissonance morphing into cacophony, or we might settle comfortably into a key when suddenly it veers into an unrelated other. The movements are named after the pictures that inspired them.

The first movement, Promenade, or  Der Spaziergang, opens with cheery walking music appropriate for a man and his lovely lady out for a stroll. But the mood soon  edges into whole tone surrealism reflecting that the pink frocked lady is floating, held down to earth only by the grasp of her companion.

The music for The Wandering Jew  is influenced by the diverse dwellings of the Jewish diaspora, ranging from the Moorish influence of the Andalusia to the Klesmer of New York. 

The third movement, Au Dessus de la Ville (Over the town) has drifting rhythm, like the drifting figures over the town. The scene is dreamy and surrealistic with the music moving in and out of sync.

I And the Village, considered Chagall's most famous painting, cuts from one scene to another as if remembering a lifetime. The man with the scythe  trudges along throughout, listening to the sounds of the village: a goat bleating, a Klesmer violinist, the bells of the Russian Orthodox Church… it is a tapestry of joy and tragedy, hard labor and festive dance.