Wail, for saxophone quartet (2005)
Duration: 15’
Soprano saxophone – Alto saxophone – Tenor saxophone – Baritone saxophone
Movements:
Score excerpt
Featured composition in Russell’s interview with composer Richard Zarou, available for free download at the No Extra Notes blog website.
Premiere:
Threshold Saxophone Quartet: Maureen Walsh, soprano saxophone / Tommy Jones, alto saxophone / Brian Bubnash, tenor saxophone / Zachary Herchen, baritone saxophone
Griswold Hall, Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, MD
April 20, 2005
Performers in audio recording:
Threshold Saxophone Quartet
Room C311, Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, MD
Spring 2005
Program Notes:
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.
— March 2005