Alberto Posadas

Veredas: Fragmentos Fracturados

for alto saxophone solo

2014, UK Première

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The second part of Posadas’ six-part Veredas cycle, exploring the saxophone family as a series of sonic “paths,” Fragmentos Fracturados (Broken Fragments) is partly inspired by the Spanish poet José Ángel Valente (1929–2000) and engages with fragmentation, absence, and the limits of expression.

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The title evokes continual division: musical material that is already incomplete is further broken apart. Rather than unfolding linearly, the piece presents a shifting field of discontinuities, within which a subtle coherence emerges. A recurring pitch centre around F sharp provides orientation, while intricate patterns and reiterations create an underlying sense of order.

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Posadas exploits the full technical and timbral range of the alto saxophone. Multiphonics, percussive key sounds, and rapid articulations produce dense, hybrid textures in which pitch and noise form layers exceeding the expectations of a solo performance. The score begins with a brief passage of Valente’s poetry, framing the work’s contemplative and fragmentary character:

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Fragmentos fracturados de luz negra,

jamás en la extensión,

sino en el reino de lo discontinuo

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Fractured fragments of black light,

never in the expanse,

but in the realm of the discontinuous.

 

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Steven Daverson

Simulacrum: The Hangman's Sensual Touch Purifies the Glistening Rapture of the Virgin

for tenor saxophone and live electronics

2025-Ongoing, UK Première

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Jorge Luis Borges’ short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius tells of two academics reconstructing the history and culture of a fictional civilisation entirely from fragments: encyclopaedic entries, mythic texts, and strange artefacts. In one of Uqbar’s legendary lands, artefacts exist only while perceived; the instant they are unobserved, they disappear. When seen by another, they reappear as a new, distinct object; a simulacrum, a copy without an original. Multiple observers may create multiple versions, each subtly different, hinting at improvement, transformation, or transient perfection.

 

In this spirit, Simulacrum is conceived as a fifteen-year evolving installation, of which each performance is a fleeting snapshot, shaped by algorithmic score creation, live interactive electronics, and the performer’s choices. Despite the objectivity of the score, the structure, harmony, timbre, and even the title shift daily, rendering each performance a new object, ephemeral and unrepeatable.

 

 

Yu Kuwabara

The Six Hours III

for tenor saxophone

2022-23, UK Première

 

The traditional Buddhist ritual divides the day into six periods of prayer, known as rokuji no gyōbō (the six hours). Kuwabara draws on these subdivisions in her triptych of solo works for bassoon, viola, and tenor saxophone.

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The Six Hours III corresponds to the final two periods: Goya (late night) and Jinjō (dawn), inhabiting a delicate space between darkness and awakening. Rather than depicting these states, Kuwabara creates an environment in which the listener attunes to larger cycles of nature and existence through music that is both suspended and transformative.​ Its pacing, sustained tones, and meditative gestures—shaped by breath, resonance, and subtle timbral shifts—reflect the influence of shōmyō, Japanese Buddhist chant, without quotation. The saxophone thus becomes the locus of two rich traditions: ritual-inflected soundworlds and vocal models that blur melody, noise, and breath, while remaining rooted in contemporary Western instrumental practice. Time unfolds gradually, inviting inward listening that draws the first light from the gloom.

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Elena Rykova

Amber Blackcurrant Time

for saxophone and electronics

2024, UK Première

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Amber Blackcurrant Time

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The taste of carefree childhood and caramel

spreads across the palate.

 

It gives off a hint of pleasant smoke,

spicy blackcurrant leaves,

calendula and oregano,

hawthorn and Ceylon’s loose-leaf tea…

 

Time stretches,

nearly halts

within the calm of home,

reversing itself.

 

I wrap up a nibbled caramel,

its other piece melting in my mouth –

 

An aftertaste that spans a lifetime.

 

Elena Rykova, September 2024

 

 

Giorgio Netti

ultimo a lato

for soprano saxophone solo

2006, UK Première

 

ultimo a lato (last at the side) continues Giorgio Netti’s long-standing exploration of the saxophone as a space of perception rather than projection. The title suggests something that is only grasped intuitively, out of the corner of the eye or ear.

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Closely related to his earlier cycle necessità d’interrogare il cielo, the work evolves through shifting, interrelated sound-spaces rather than more traditional thematic development. Musical objects are presented in partial views, like branches of a tree perceived in isolation, never fully coalescing into a single, stable image.

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The soprano saxophone becomes an instrument of extreme sensitivity. Subtle variations of breath, embouchure, and fingering generate delicate timbres, moving fluidly between pitch and noise. Never fully asserting themselves, these sounds emerge, hover, and recede to create a sense of suspended, fragile time.

 

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Saxophonist Patrick Stadler is a leading figure in contemporary music for the instrument, with numerous CD recordings, international festival appearances, and broadcasts worldwide. As a core member of the pioneering Ensemble Nikel and through solo projects, he plays a central role in creation of new repertoire. As a soloist, he has performed with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Resonanz, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, and the Basel Chamber Orchestra, among others.

 

Since 2019, Stadler has been Professor of Saxophone, Chamber Music and Contemporary Music at the University of Music in Nuremberg and a faculty member of the Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music. His teaching is complemented by workshops and masterclasses at leading universities internationally. In recognition of his contributions to new music, he was awarded the Swiss Music Prize in 2023.

 

 

This concert is generously supported by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Hinrichsen Foundation, and Northampton School for Boys.

 

 

Special thanks to Michelle Yates, Phil Cave, and Gemma Welch at NSB.