Saxophone Virtuosity: Manifestation and Effect in the Classical Saxophone Repertoire

<p>To ascribe the word ‘virtuosity’ to a single and absolute definition is an impossible task. It is a term that is multifaceted in its meaning and which is understood differently in a variety of contexts. This thesis investigates how the word virtuosity has been used in music discourse, and then considers virtuosity in three aspects of saxophone performance: altissimo, fast finger technique and soloistic roles. The application of these three aspects of virtuosity to the classical saxophone repertoire is then examined. Specifically, I examine the application of altissimo in Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera for Alto Saxophone and Eleven Instruments; fast finger technique in the cadenzas of Pierre Max Dubois’ Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra and Alexander Glazunov’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra; and soloistic roles in classical saxophone orchestral repertoire. I also consider the relevance of the saxophone as a non-standard orchestral instrument to the notion of soloistic virtuosity. With these three aspects of virtuosity established, I explore the relationship between virtuosity and Claude Debussy’s Rapsodie for Orchestra and Alto Saxophone. This exploration first demonstrates how adaptations made to the Rapsodie can be seen to increase the virtuosic nature of the work. Second, it looks at how these adaptations could be contradictory to the composer’s intentions. Last, it considers the motivation and purpose behind these adaptations. The aim of this thesis is to disclose ways in which virtuosity may be understood in the context of the classical saxophone repertoire and how this understanding has affected Debussy’s Rapsodie in particular.</p>

Saxophone Virtuosity: Manifestation and Effect in the Classical Saxophone Repertoire

<p>To ascribe the word ‘virtuosity’ to a single and absolute definition is an impossible task. It is a term that is multifaceted in its meaning and which is understood differently in a variety of contexts. This thesis investigates how the word virtuosity has been used in music discourse, and then considers virtuosity in three aspects of saxophone performance: altissimo, fast finger technique and soloistic roles. The application of these three aspects of virtuosity to the classical saxophone repertoire is then examined. Specifically, I examine the application of altissimo in Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera for Alto Saxophone and Eleven Instruments; fast finger technique in the cadenzas of Pierre Max Dubois’ Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra and Alexander Glazunov’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra; and soloistic roles in classical saxophone orchestral repertoire. I also consider the relevance of the saxophone as a non-standard orchestral instrument to the notion of soloistic virtuosity. With these three aspects of virtuosity established, I explore the relationship between virtuosity and Claude Debussy’s Rapsodie for Orchestra and Alto Saxophone. This exploration first demonstrates how adaptations made to the Rapsodie can be seen to increase the virtuosic nature of the work. Second, it looks at how these adaptations could be contradictory to the composer’s intentions. Last, it considers the motivation and purpose behind these adaptations. The aim of this thesis is to disclose ways in which virtuosity may be understood in the context of the classical saxophone repertoire and how this understanding has affected Debussy’s Rapsodie in particular.</p>

ANALISIS STRUKTUR DAN UNSUR MUSIK KOMPOSISI TAKE FIVE KARYA PAUL DESMOND

This study aims to describe Paul Desmond's Take Five music composition analysis. This type of research is descriptive qualitative research with the main instrument in this study is part music in the form of song parts. The researcher processed the data with steps such as reading the scores from the take five material itself, then classifying the data from understanding music theory to the material itself, from the structural aspect of music to melody, rhythm and interval, so that the researcher can make a summary of the data. which was found in the form of writing describing the understanding of music theory, Then, the researcher conducted a feasibility test on the song with the aim that the song analyzed could be used as learning material for students who studied standard jazz material and as eligibility to be used as basic knowledge about music jazz.The results showed that the work of Take five is unique in terms of odd time signatures using simple melody, riem and intervals, which form a song 2 parts A, B with sentences A (a, a ') B (b, b') and A (a, a ') take five can be accepted as a standard jazz learning reference for the alto saxophone instrument. The assessment is obtained from simple melody, rhythm and interval analysis so that it can be used or can be used as a reference for learning standard jazz for students taking the major saxophone instrument course.Keyword : Structur Analysis, Take Five Composision, Paul Desmond.

Using Ethno-Compositional Materials for Contemporary Music Composition: ‘Ovie’ E Flat Alto Saxophone and Piano Accompaniment as Musical Example

The search for musico-cultural identity and nationalism in Africa as well as in Nigeria gave rise to the evolution of new compositional innovations which stemmed from the use of ethno-compositional materials drawn from such cultures for compositional purposes which are contemporary in structure, culturally oriented and globally relevant. Inresponse to this search, Nigerian Contemporary musicians and Art musicians/composers went back as it were to their ‘root’ giving birth to many contemporary compositions by various contemporary musicians and art musicians in Nigeria and Afr ica including other cultural clime. One of such contemporary composition is the musical example titled ‘Ovie’ for E flat Alto Saxophone and Piano accompaniment. In the musicological presentation of ‘Ovie’ for E flat Alto Saxophone and Piano accompaniment, the melodic structure/passage of the song texts ‘ovie’ was used as thematic mater ial to compose an entire work of 173 bars/measures. Presentation of information pertaining to its pre-compositional consideration and compositional techniques employed in the composition titled ‘ovie’ was discussed. Also literatures were reviewed to buttress facts where necessary.

Klangforum Wien, Wien Modern, Wiener Konzerthaus, 13 November 2019

The thirty-second Wien Modern was an extraordinary month-long festival of concerts and events with almost 90 world and Austrian premieres. The excellent Klangforum Wien programme at the Wiener Konzerthaus, conducted by Bas Wiegers, was well attended by an enthusiastic and mostly young-ish audience, where the focus was two first performances for large ensemble: Klaus Lang's linea mundi and Mirela Ivičević's Sweet Dreams. The evening was, in fact, billed as being ‘in honour’ of Ivičević who had won the Erste Bank Composition Prize 2019 with this piece. Ivičević is a Croatian composer now living in Vienna and her work shows an involvement with big themes: politics, diversity and violence, among others. Apart from concert pieces she works with different media and takes by-products of popular trash culture often as a starting point for her work. In interviews she has talked about the ‘subversive potency of sound’, and said that her work is ‘raw, imperfect, unpolished’, which this piece, and other recent examples you can hear on YouTube, demonstrate, despite her quite rigorous musical education in Zagreb and Vienna. Sweet Dreams is a lively, noisy, busy piece about the rapid change between sleep and waking states. The large ensemble, including harmonium, electric guitar and harp, opens with monumental repeated sections, dramatic but with a sense of direction toward slow, strong, pedal entries. Rough punctuation from alto saxophone, bass clarinet and trumpet adds to the ‘rawness’ but the writing is assured with a particular, individual imagination and sense of colour that bodes well for future work.

Prologue

The rationale for a biography of Johnny Hodges is given; namely, confusion and contradictory accounts as to basic facts about him ranging from his birth date to his given name to the spelling of his surname to the instrument that he played on a regular basis in person and on recordings. Hodges’s reticence is cited as an explanation; he was not a talkative man, rarely gave interviews, and revealed little when he did. Despite the fact that he was a very private man, he could be recognized around the world by the sound of a single note he produced on the alto saxophone, a claim made about many musicians in both jazz and other genres, but only rarely true.