Summer, Uptown (chamber versions)
Composers have often incorporated elements of popular music into their concert music. Summer, Uptown looks to the diversity of jazz for its language, approach and character. The work is in a ternary form, defined by both tempi and style. The “A” sections are relaxed with swung eighth-notes while the “B” section is more turbulent, with an underlying Latin feel to it. There is no direct quotation of any existing popular material in this piece. Rather, it is only the general nature of these styles of music which is invoked.
Summer, Uptown exists in four versions: alto saxophone and piano; clarinet, cello, and piano (2021); alto saxophone, cello, and piano; and alto saxophone and orchestra. All the versions with alto sax were begun in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in May, 1996, and then completed in New York City that same July. The original version of this composition was commissioned by the Iowa Composers Forum as the winning proposal for the 1996 Francis Johnson Pyle Award. This version for alto saxophone and orchestra was premiered on 5 October 1996, in Dubuque, Iowa, as a part of the Iowa Composers Forum Ninth Annual Festival. The saxophone soloist for this performance was Adam Saunders, with Brian Hughes conducting the Dubuque Youth Symphony.
The later version for clarinet trio was premiered at Indiana University Southeast on 2 October 2022 by members of the new music group A/Tonal Ensemble: Carrie RavenStem, clarinet; Jon Silpayamanant, cello; and Jessica Litwiniec Dorman, piano.
When you place your order below, please let me know which chamber version you would like to receive.
- Instrumentation:
- alto saxophone and piano, alto saxophone or clarinet, cello, and piano
- Date completed:
- 1996, 2021
- Duration:
- ca. 7:00
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