Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

The aim in writing this quartet was to demonstrate a range of textures available to the saxophone quartet, and to simulate the harmonic richness possible in string quartet writing, through prominent use of tremolos. These often use more than 2 notes, which can be rotated freely, often employing harmonics, which further thicken the texture. Short melodic fragements are presented by different combinations of the 4 instruments. The pitch material of these melodic fracgments contribute to the harmonic foundation elswehere. The title Rustle refers to the restless tremolos, evoking an atmosphere of dark mystery, in the style of Bartók's "night music".

Passages of free improvisation give the players an opportunity to respond to and contribute to these elements.

Work Details

Year: 2011

Instrumentation: Saxophone quartet: soprano, alto, tenor, baritone

Duration: 8 min.

Difficulty: Advanced — rhythms are generally not synchronised, players need to play off the score. non-standard fingerings and microtones

First performance: by Phillip Johnston, Paul Cutlan, Sandy Evans, Nick Bowd — 8 Aug 11. Venue 505, Sydney

The composer notes the following styles, genres, influences associated with this work:
jazz, improvised, microtonal, texture, Ligeti, free rhythm, atonality, Penderecki, Colin Bright