In this suite for soprano saxophone and string orchestra, I have striven to make full use the saxophone’s raw expressive capability, which inspired this work in the first place. It is unfinished, but three of the four movements are completed, and I am open to having any of them performed in isolation or in any combination. Contact me if you are interested.

Each movement embodies a different kind of sorrow.

• I. Longing. Theme and variations; the theme is a light, wistful Viennese waltz, the kind of melody you might expect from a piece about longing. But that isn’t where we start. Longing can also be intense and all-consuming. It’s in that frame of mind that the suite hits the ground running with a feverish, heavy-metal-esque string accompaniment and the saxophone arching over it in a mournful, twisted and stretched version of the theme. Next the soloist carries the gut-wrenching feeling of longing into a cadenza which begins as a series of intensifying minimalist motifs and turns into an ornamented version of theme. The B section introduces another wistful waltz which suddenly explodes in a burst of optimism, the thought of what it would be like to have that which we long for. The reverie is brief, however, and we return to longing, subdued at first but intensifying until with a crash we finally reach the theme in its pure form. After this the feverish accompaniment returns and the saxophone plays another variation, this time at full tempo and heavily ornamented. Exhausted, another brief cadenza leads into a slow section, but the all-encompassing longing is not so easily shaken off. It creeps back, growing and quickening until the ponderous climax played by the strings. Nearly giving up, the saxophone concludes the tune in an attitude of resignation.
• II. Lostness. Imagine a wanderer lost in a strange and barren land of ruins (if you’re struggling, do an image search for the game Journey). A recurring bass figure and a violin ostinato evoke a feeling of being surrounded by that which is huge, unknown, and foreboding as we travel through this strange place. Midway through the movement, a familiar melody enters: “Poor Wayfaring Stranger”; however, in an apt moment of lostness, the melody doesn’t quite reach its conclusion. This movement draws musical inspiration from Gareth Coker’s score to Ori and the Blind Forest.
• III. Judgment (currently unfinished). In this programmatic movement, we find ourselves in a courtroom scene. A string trio represents the accusers; the saxophone soloist is the accused. Their two dueling themes of judgment and of innocence are both early American hymn tunes. The accusers’ “Mount Carmel” is in fact a song about judgment; the accused answers with the tune known variously as “Samanthra” or “Zion’s Pilgrim.” The orchestra, then, represents the jury. Throughout the movement, the accusers and the accused each vie to win the orchestra over to join in their theme, as the scene progresses:
  • Call to Order
  • The Accusation
  • Plea of Innocence
  • The Accused Gains Sympathy
  • Debate
  • The Defense
  • The Verdict
• IV. Separation. This movement is about the sorrow of being far away from a lover. The two interwoven Dorian-mode themes are both songs on this subject: “Remember Me,” which I composed in 2012, and the English folk song “Scarborough Fair.” It opens with a simple statement of “Remember Me” by the saxophone over lush chordal accompaniment. The orchestra follows with a development in the style of Holst’s “I’ll Love My Love” from his Second Suite (another song on this topic). The harmony at the end of “Remember Me” makes each iteration feel not quite resolved. Then the energy picks up with new iterations of “Remember Me” in double time and the addition of “Scarborough Fair” concurrently. The two themes are further developed until the haunting coda, which contains the final phrases of both tunes moving around the ensemble, alternating modes, and finally ending on an open fifth that feels concluded and yet uncertain, sorrowful but hopeful. Your lover may be far away, but at least there is the assurance that someone loves you.