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In the Spotlight
"The Nominious Death of Z. Robert Herchen" (2005) by Kevin Clark
Program notes:
"This piece was originally written for saxophonist Zachary Robert Herchen, hence the title. He asked me for a piece that would make him want to die, and I gave him this. The piece has a consummate technical challenge, and then what he was not expecting – acting. The T.S. Eliot poem is about the breakdown of language, about anxiety, and about the impossibility of meaningful action, but others have written better about the poem. I just set it to music for saxophone. Whenever a solfege syllable, such as ‘do re mi’, or a chromatic syllable, such as ‘di’, ‘ra’, and ‘ri’, that syllable is set on that note in the saxophone, with some modifications, and some exceptions. The text that appears without notes should in fact be read, this is a performance of poetry. The epigraph, which is in Italian and comes from Dante, should be read. The performer would be well advised to look at some criticism about the poem, some information on T.S. Eliot. The ‘harsh’ and ‘smooth’ notations denote two different attitudes one finds in the poem, though the attitudes in the music and the attitudes in the text do not always line up. The ‘harsh’ attitude is angry at the human condition, frustrated with existence, and is expressed through a more assaulting timbre. The ‘smooth’ attitude is passive, functioning in the world, verging on resigned, and should be played with a cleaner, more relaxed timbre.
The low A-naturals and A-flats are played by covering the bell of the instrument with the knee, usually the left, to varying extents."
[Kevin Clark is in his fourth year studying composition and philosophy at Peabody/JHU. The music and recordings available below are used with his permission and that of the performer.]
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Music
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The Nominious Death of Z. Robert Herchen 1. Groove
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The Nominious Death of Z. Robert Herchen 2. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
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"Wail" (2005) by Russell Nadel
Program notes for "Wail":
"I have always admired the saxophone for its flexibility, range and ability to change personalities and expressive modes on a dime. I’ve always been equally fascinated by the saxophone quartet, the only ensemble that can match the string quartet in terms of balance, unified sound and range of expressivity. It brought me great joy, therefore, to receive an open-ended commission by the fabulously talented members of the Threshold Saxophone Quartet, whose patience and willingness to play nearly anything has been a great encouragement to me. Each movement of the piece features one of the members of the quartet, and explores a different capability of the saxophone: The first, “Pulse (Tenor),” is almost minimalist in style and execution; the second, “Sing (Alto),” is much more rhapsodic and traditionally lyric; the third, “Circus Music (Soprano),” utilizes the extreme ranges of each instrument for a comic, Stravinsky-inspired burlesque march; and the final, “Riff (Baritone),” expresses my love for the loud, expressive, wailing jazz saxophone, especially as used by Charles Mingus and others."
Listen and learn more about "Wail" here. To purchase the piece, contact Russell at http://www.russellnadel.com/contact/.
