Saxophone Concerto (2024)

Program Notes:

My Saxophone Concerto is in two movements of contrasting character and was written for saxophonist Timothy McAllister. It's scored for solo alto saxophone, with an ensemble of orchestral winds (woodwinds and brass) plus percussion and piano. The opening movement, marked "Gently, with a sense of pulse", explores the saxophone's lyrical and expressive qualities as the ensemble creates slowly-changing, pulsating harmonies, over which the saxophone plays long, lyrical lines. The second movement, marked "With great energy", contains frenetic, pulse-oriented music and features the saxophone's virtuosic possibilities. Eventually, the ensemble gives way to the soloist's slowly evolving cadenza. As the movement titles suggest, the music was inspired by the phases of the moon and the vastness of space.

This work was made possible in part by the Gail Straith Commissioning Fund at the University of Michigan and the Creative Ventures Fund at Rice University.

-- Pierre Jalbert