Saturation

PROGRAM NOTES:

Saturation for Soprano Saxophone and Piano (2017) explores sonic and emotional saturation points, especially those moments when it feels like adding anything to the mix would cause the rest to unravel. In the early months of 2017, tensions were running high, and the winter was wet, even by Oregon standards. The monotonous and continuously driving rain cast a dark pall over everything; eventually, the ground and rivers swelled, unable to absorb even a drop more. In many ways, nature mirrored strain in my life, so the form of this work unfolds similarly over three sections. In the first, Waiting, worrying, listening, the music is slow, bare, and resonant. The second section, Faster (If I say it often enough, does it become true?), processes the opening ideas within a churning rhythmic landscape. The third section, the pain travels with you, transforms the opening ideas into a lament.

Saturation was commissioned by Idit Shner and made possible through a University of Oregon Faculty Excellence Award. She premiered the work with Grace Eunhye Choi while on tour at Indiana University, Michigan State, University of Michigan, Linfield College, and University of Oregon (September 14-29, 2017). This work is distributed by the ADJ•ective New Music Composers’ Collective and it was recorded by Shner and Choi for the 2019 Origin Classical release, Minerva.

– Andrea Reinkemeyer
Notes may be used freely with proper attribution

‍