DANIEL BASFORD - COMPOSER & ARRANGER

Sonatina for Alto Saxophone & Piano

2011. Duration 8' approx.

 

 

 

 

Commissioned by Robert Woodward.

 

 

Programme Note

This work is conceived in quite a strident and modern style. The Sonatina opens with a quiet, restrained melody on the saxophone punctuated by violent clipped chords on the piano, before flowering into a cooler, rhapsodic episode. Next comes a more rhythmic scherzo-like section, based on the two instruments mimicking each other, both motivically and harmonically. This builds to a climax where the resonance of the piano echoes the strong melody on the saxophone. The piece then closes with a somewhat unsettling epilogue, chorale-like in nature and fading away.