“...this is an intriguing piece and is captivating.”
Winner, 2014 Donald Sinta Quartet Commissioning Competition;
premiered November 2014, Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall
Featured on the upcoming DSQ album, Collider
Program Note
Though loosely inspired by the story of the Tower of Babel as told in the Bible, this composition does not aim to directly mimic any of the specific narrative aspects of the original tale. Instead, it deals with the more general features of the story—the introduction features the saxophone quartet playing almost as a single instrument, constantly bouncing off of each other or playing melodic fragments that together shape the majority of the piece. The latter portion of the work, however, focuses on the barriers placed between humankind in the story, and the barriers of language and ideology which are regularly faced each day around the world—the saxophones each break off into their own motives and rhythms, languages and ideas, which they must work through to remain together and complete the composition. It ends as both a meditation on the individual and the whole, as each member of the quartet plays their own isolated fragment that together form the head motive of the work, before receding into silence, knowing that such problems of communication are not fully resolved.