THAWST II, op.20: composed for saxophone quartet.
Duration: 10 minutes.
Premiere information:
The American University Saxophone Quartet.
Emily Warden, soprano; Helen West, alto; William Kammerer, tenor; Alex Mensing, baritone.
Dr. Noah Getz, Ensemble Director.
International Saxophone Symposium, George Mason University, January 15, 2010.
THAWST II belongs to a series of compositions for small chamber ensembles under the generic title THAWST . This present work is set for saxophone quartet.
The title is derived from TH (=threads) + A (=Alpha) +W (=Omega, W being the closest equivalent of the Greek letter Omega) +ST (=strings). Or, simply put, "Threads and Strings across a AW axis".
My fascination with the String Theory in Physics and my vivid imagination are the tools here: "AW" (Alpha-Omega) deals as an imaginary "black hole" in space, where all matter is sucked and maybe re-spitted out again. In every composition of the series, and facing the challenge of diverse instrumentation, I try to create a new/imaginary situation of cosmic turbulence.
Added to that, the tonal system used here is that of the Ancient Greek tetrachords, as delivered to us by the Pythagorean theories.