Song & Dance

for Alto Saxophone and Piano

Audio

Score

Notes from the composer

Song & Dance is a short work in two movements. It was composed for Arthur Bouton in the fall of 2005. The two movements explore the extreme capabilities of the saxophone and the piano, requiring both expressive depth and virtuosic technique. The title Song & Dance refers to the forms of the two movements.

The first movement is a song form. This movement is titled Delicious Languor. It is slow and expressive, with an almost improvised feel. This section is an inner dialogue, a point of introspection. The opening section serves as the basis for the rest of the movement, with each brief gesture expanded into a section of the song. There is a restless, questing feeling through this movement; however, it is introspective, and this restless force is turned inward. It ultimately becomes a whirlwind of thought that can go nowhere. The languidity of introspection breaks and gives way to intention and dynamic action.

The second movement is titled Force and Fire, and proceeds without break (attaca) from the first movement. It is a driving, fast movement in a Scherzo or dance form. Now, the restless circling of the previous section has given birth to a highly active and dynamic will. All of the inward force has been turned outward as the two voices support one another in a frantic dance of energy and intensity.

Performance History

Premiered March 12, 2006

University of Denver

Art Bouton, alto saxophone
Alix Corboy, piano.

Recorded June 2008

Art Bouton, alto saxophone
David Shuey, piano.

Recording funded by a Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant from the University of Colorado- Boulder