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Title & composer

[Konsert] Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra



Composition year: 1990
Duration: 22 min

Context

Performance

Instrumentation
-- 2222 2221 13 0 str
Classification
Saxofonkonsert
Subject heading
Xm
Language

First performance

Date
1991-01-19
Location
Stockholm, Berwaldhallen/Sveriges riksradio
Performers
John E Kelly, Radiosymfonikerna, dir Kent Nagano

Background

Commissioned by
Sveriges riksradio
Tribute to
John-Edward Kelly
Comments about the work
The rigid pitch-relationships we have come to expect in the resounding musicalworld are a logical result of certain physical laws, but do not necessarilycorrespond to the inner realities of music: in inner musical space, the intervalscan be determined as freely as the individual fantasy deems necessary.Accordingly, resounding intervals 'stretched' microtonally might concur muchmore precisely with the intended inner musical gesture than a 'clean' intonationever could. (In earlier musical cultures, this was an accepted andfrequently-employed practise of music-making.) It is in this sense, and not outof common sound-effect, that Miklós Maros has used quarter-tones extensivelyin the Concerto. Quite usual intervals, in and of themselves utterly simple,acquire an altogether different expressive quality when 'stretched' in thismanner. Again and again, whether playfully bouncing about musical space or indulgingin the sheer expressivity of a single chord, Miklós Maros reveals the innerqualities of the sonorities themselves, applying their properties as basiccompositional elements and using them to guide the listener into the silentmusical spheres. And even though his music is generally characterised by anunshakably earnest air, one cannot help notice with what obviously greatpleasure he expresses his musical visions in an original, self-confidentlanguage, here tipping ever-so-slightly scales of norm, there subtly bending therules of conventional expectation. Is it not with a warm laugh and a cozy smilethat Maros, in the final triumphant trio of the Concerto , crowns the twotrumpets' fifths with a 'lopsided' sixth ('off-pitch' by a quarter-tone!) in thesaxophone? His marvellous joy in the inherent, lively flexibility of music is not tobe concealed. All of Miklós Maros' music bears the distinctive imprint of its creator and of theparticular inner world of movement from which it has emitted. Through itssonorities also resounds a most extraordinary sort of inner quiet: even in itsmost subdued moments, the music of Miklós Maros never stops dancing. Text: John-Edward Kelly. From Phono Suecia nr 23 (1992)

List

The work

Composer
Title
[Konsert] Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra
Duration
22 minutes
Composition year
1990

Information

Identification number
125192
Work administrator
SMIC (SMIC)
Format
SCORE

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Preview

Sheet music sample (PDF)
Alto saxophone