Contemporary Classics February 27, 2018 Contemporary Saxophone Chamber Music

William Albright was an American composer.  His music combined elements of tonal and non-tonal classical music (in particular the influence of Messiaen as he studied with Olivier Messiaen) with American popular music and non-Western music.  He taught at the University of Michigan from 1970 until his death in 1998 of liver failure.    William Albright: Alto Saxophone Sonata: I. Two-Part Invention    II. la Follia Nuova: A Lament for George Cacioppo    III. Scherzo, "Will O'the Wisp  IV. Recitative and Dance     Kathryn Goodson & Timothy McAllister            In Transit

Frank Martin (15 September 1890 – 21 November 1974) was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.  He wrote this Ballade for Saxophone and Piano in 1938. Martin deftly explores the instrument's still-emerging possibilities - using it, for example, in the far reaches of what was then its upper range. Though much of the rhythmic activity in is marked by syncopation, the composer makes no overt reference to jazz and popular music. Martin makes notable use of dissonant sonorities in the work, lending considerable harmonic spice.  Frank Martin: Ballade for Saxophone and Piano     Yolanda Klappert, piano & & Tim Smith, saxophone            Fractal Forest 

Michael Nyman began writing a saxophone quartet on New Year's Eve 1992, but on January 5, 1993, he was informed that his friend and business manager, Tony Simmons, had died after a long and heroic fight against cancer. He immediately sat down and wrote the music which became the fourth song, in what became a 'memorial' quartet to his friend. He scrapped  the music that he had composed and he decided to give each player, in turn, an 'aria' of their own.  The first song in the series is a transcription of an actual song - 'Mozart on Mortality' - which he wrote for the Composers Ensemble in the spring of 1992.  The second song is adapted from the music he wrote for the scene in Jane Campion's film The Piano, where the mute Ada (Holly Hunter) pushes her chief means of communication, her piano, overboard. The Piano was the last major deal that Tony Simmons had negotiated on for Michael Nyman so he felt that would be an appropriate for this memorial work to his friend. The third song, a soprano sax solo, is based on a tune Nyman composed some years before the composition of this work and he was saving it for a special occasion, and he viewed this opportunity as the special occasion. Michael Nyman: Songs for Tony: I-IV  Sonic Art Saxophone Quartet            Glass & Nyman: Works for Saxophone Quartet