seven notes of Nancarrow

for saxophone quartet. 8'
2011

performed by the Lunar Saxophone Quartet at The Forge, Camden
and James Black, Joe Norris, Josh Poole, and Julian Scott at the JdP Music Building, Oxford


The title of the work alludes to the borrowed musical material on which it is based. The first seven notes of the composition are the same as found in Canon A of Conlon Nancarrow’s Two Canons for Ursula. It should be noted, however, that some small functional changes have been made. The first is that the second note, D, has been transposed an octave higher. This I felt necessary so that at least one note of this ‘prime’ material was within the range of the soprano saxophone. The second change is the tuplet in bar three which has been simplified, however, the groove I felt implied by this rhythm, in the context of the piece, has been translated into an actual feeling of groove throughout much of the work.