Swivel & Swerve (2024)

for soprano sax and piano

Duration: 5.5’

Commissioned by Ensemble Offspring

To be first performed by Alice Morgan and Jack Symonds, 23 November 2024, Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House

Program Note

Swivel & Swerve takes its inspiration from four bars of my saxophone concerto Superhighway. It imagines an alternative off-ramp for the final movement, swiveling and swerving in new directions.  This pocket-sized instrumentation bears all the hallmarks of the concerto and, as a phantom fourth movement, is very much interested in forward momentum.  There are a series of grooves throughout, drawing from funk, metal, prog-rock, blues, and hip-hop influences, and each of these are interrupted by shards of swerving material, mostly led by the piano.

The sax part is athletic, lyrical, and unapologetically joyous, showcasing all the things I think are wonderful about the soprano saxophone and deserve to be celebrated. Written especially for Alice Morgan, she requested a piece that was showy, animated and extroverted, so there’s more than a smattering of that, too!  For me, 2024 truly has been the Year of the Sax.