Whimsical Sketches of Fanciful Birds (Preview)

Waking Swan stirs into life with the piano’s foundation of mid register triplet notes swelling
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to create colourful waves of harmonic clusters. Meanwhile, the saxophonist is drawn into
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increasingly adventurous technical material, incorporating pitch bends and honks in its
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4 onomatopoeic and increasingly abrasive depiction of the swan’s physicality. The movement’s
growing waves of intensity culminate in the pianist’s wingspan spreading to perform clusters
at opposite ends of the keyboard, with the saxophone soaring about its upper register with
tightly controlled glissandi.
Continuing the intensity of Waking Swan’s climax, the frenetic Short-Tempered Parakeet is
powered by the piano’s relentless rhythmic drive. Both instrument lines move in wave-like
yet somewhat jagged contours, and eventually combine at a frenzied peak in their respective
upper registers. The movement continues to terminus with the saxophone’s maniacal chatter
being punctuated with fist clusters from the piano.
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Whimsical Sketches of Fanciful Birds was commissioned by Allen Harrington. It was
premiered by Allen Harrington (alto saxophone) and Laura Loewen (piano) at the
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Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on 11 August 2012.
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Performance notes
‰ Œ Œ
Saxophone
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• All pitch bends begin immediately and last for the entire notated duration.
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Y œ œ Y œ
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honk
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Piano
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dim.
• In Curious Swallow octave signs appearing below a staff apply only to the lower voice
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Waking Swan contains downward pitch bends, in which the
saxophonist is to bend the starting pitch down as far as possible and terminate the
technique with a honk.
when two voices are present.
• From mm.77-97 of Short-Tempered Parakeet the pianist is to use their fist to play the
notated right hand pitches. While the notated pitches are those that the pianist is to
aim for, the goal of this playing technique is to create the possibility, or probability, of
neighbouring keys also being struck.
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Transposed score
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cresc.
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PE152 – vi