Sonata for Soprano Saxophone and Piano

2023

For Soprano Saxophone and Piano
Duration: 15 minutes

In summer 2022, Michigan-based saxophonist Nathan Salazar approached me about collaborating on a new work. His goal was commissioning select composers to help expand the repertoire available for soprano saxophone. We talked his musical interests and tastes the next several months, and then in late spring/early summer 2023 I began work on his piece in earnest.

My sonata took form largely during summer 2023 as I was traveling and engaged with residencies. Sketches for the first and third movements for formed, in part, during my time in Manhattan in June of 2023, drawing on the sleeplessness nightscape sounds of New York for the first movement that gives way to a bustling activity during the day (movement III). The second movement was conceived while at Aaron Copland’s residence in Cortlandt Manor, not far from the Hudson River about an hour north of Lower Manhattan. As I sat at the piano in his studio, I was stuck oscillating two major chords a third a part and a tone row that became the foundation for that movement, signifying the beautiful, elusive setting of Copland’s home.

Commissioned by Nathan Salazar.