Purchase includes score and parts
for saxophone orchestra
duration: 5’

Instrumentation

Two soprano saxophones
Four alto saxophones
Two tenor saxophones
Two baritone saxophones
Bass saxophone

About the work

The term “baroque” is likely to have originated from the Middle French word “barroque”, meaning irregularly shaped; and the Portuguese “barroco”, an irregularly shaped pearl. An irregular pearl is contorted in ways dictated by natural processes, reflecting myriad shifting colors and shadows with it’s iridescence. 

“Sun Changes” strives to capture the quality of shifting light cast from an irregular surface. Saxophones are a wonderful medium for the task because of their ability to play one pitch via different mechanical approaches, which creates shifts in the texture of their tone. In this piece I ask the performers to move rapidly between different fingerings for the same pitch in order to achieve a shiny, irregular surface to the music.