Watch original version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3iONCF3dec

Also available for baritone saxophone. Contact nicrussoniello@gmail.com for score and parts.

Concerto for Baritone Saxophone, Strings & You was composed for the 2023 Orange Chamber Music Festival Gala Concert. Here it has been adapted for solo alto saxophone and saxophone ensemble. The work showcases the broad ranging expressive capabilities of the saxophone and celebrates the singular joy that is live music performance. To this end, the work blurs the distinction between audience and performer. The audience is required to assist in the creation of immersive soundscapes that accompany and influence those on stage. It is suggested that the conductor or concert master explain and rehearse the audience soundscapes with the audience prior to the performance.

I - Song

The work opens with a lyrical saxophone cadenza that outlines the concerto’s primary thematic material. In this opening, the harmonic series of the saxophone’s lowest B is silhouetted by interjections from the ensemble. This sparse soundscape is reinforced by a drone chanted by the audience. Following this, a driving and mixed metre theme is announced by the ensemble. The work builds towards a climactic passage that counters rapid arpeggios, multiphonics, bisbigliandi and cross rhythms in the solo part against a wash of arpeggios and chanting from the ensemble and audience. Evoking an EDM ‘riser and drop’, the soloist delivers a momentous harmonic glissando.

II - Hands

Hands create a wash of sounds to commence Movement II. This rain (or rainforest) effect is accompanied by subtle vocalisations from the ensemble and avian harmonic flutters from soloist. Elements from the Movement I theme are reimagined into a new lullaby melody. This lullaby is first stated by a solo tenor saxophone and then developed by the alto soloist against a star-like backdrop of shifting harmonies. The movement swells to an appassionato waltz with soloist and ensemble in lockstep. Finally, the lullaby waltz dissipates into the rainforest wash.

III- Stomp

Movement III is an angular and chromatic rock anthem powered by the stomping of feet. An opening groove is established by the soloist and soon taken up by the low saxophones, allowing the soloist to explore a range of virtuosic electric guitar inspired sound effects. Soloist and ensemble unite for a mixed-metre hook, devised from elements of the Movement I theme. The movement is structured around increasingly chromatic episodes from this returning hook. The climax of the work is a full-throttle alto saxophone cadenza: an eruption of multiphonics, bends, bisbigliandi and squeals that is ‘cheered on’ by a room full of stomping feet.