Symphony of the Hawai‘i Forests: Reflections on Ka Wai Ke Kumu Ola (2023) Full orchestraSnapshopts (2017)
for alto saxophone and bassoon
duration: 8 minutes
Program Notes
Snapshots is a duo for bassoon and alto saxophone that consists of four short movements, each exploring vastly different ways the two instruments can interact. While the contrast in the musical language varies greatly from one movement to another, there are certain motives that are shared between movements that link them all together.
1. Grotesque takes advantage of some of the two instruments' ability to create unorthodox sounds that are - to put it gently - not very pretty.
2. Chain draws its name from the compositional technique of Lutoslawski but with a slightly different approach and a more consonant harmonic language. Each instrument plays a number of repeating patterns that begin and end at different times. There is an element of chance built into the work (pulse is slightly different between the lines; the number of repetitions of patterns can change), so the piece will vary from one performance to another.
3. Haunted takes the motive of a glissando that is present in all of the movements and expands it here as the central idea. The glissandi takes many forms from slow to fast, wide to narrow, hardly ever getting settled on a steady pitch.
4. Early Bird Special uses some very clear bebop references throughout in a burst of virtuosity. Although there is no improvised passage in the movement, the saxophone plays the role of the soloist, while the bassoon mimics a stride piano.
Snapshots was written for the Post-Haste Reed Duo.