Media:

Saxophone Quartet #1 - Miguel A. Bolivar

Written for the AM/PM Quartet

live performance by the AM/PM Quartet - Jeremiah Baker (soprano sax), Zach Herchen (alto sax), Miguel Bolivar (tenor sax), Cara Salveson (baritone sax)

Mvmt I and Mvmt II (attacca)

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Mvmt III

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Mvmt IV

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Program Notes:
This quartet was written in 2007 and is a piece that spawns all of its main ideas from the slow, chorale like, initial movement. The use of harmonic sound, rhythmic interaction, and resolution all become the main ingredients for each of movements that follow.

White Fog, a dreamscape - Adam Knauss

Written for No Signal

live premiere by No Signal - Rachel Gawell (cello), Zach Herchen (tenor saxophone), and Greg Jukes (vibraphone)

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Program Notes:
White Fog was written in 2008 for No Signal. When asked about the piece, Adam Knauss recalled the view from his window at night, through dense fog and city lights, with only the tips of several buildings visible. The composition captures a spacious feeling with a sense of safety mirrored by the anxiety of a daunting future. Mr. Knauss recognizes Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel (1978) as an influence, particularly its slow spacious style, although White Fog is not directly modeled on a particular piece.

I Am Dancing Blue Flame - Ying-Chen Kao

Text by H. A. Kares and electronics by Jenny Beck

live premiere - Bonnie Lander (soprano), Zach Herchen (tenor saxophone), and David Witmer (piano)

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Program Notes:
I am Dancing Blue flame is a musical work that portrays the female perspective of the soul reaching and extending into a dualistic vision of oneself. We are often over stimulated in society and forget to identify with who we really are from an organic perspective. Therefore I tried to create a world of stasis and meditation to counter the hectic and confused state that we often live in. I did this by using a mixture of dark and bright colors with intertwining melodic lines. The idea behind the prerecorded voice and sound samples is to interlace the metaphoric inner voice of the protagonist.

This piece is written for my dearest friend Bonnie Lander whom I have known for a long period of time. I as well would like to thank Jenny Beck who helped me with the computer aspects. Most of all I would like to thank Heather Kares for writing this dramatic and meaningful poem that inspired me to write this piece.

Eye See Ewe - animation by Anna Meadors

Created for No Signal

live premiere by No Signal, improvised music - Rachel Gawell (cello), Zach Herchen (tenor saxophone), and Greg Jukes (vibraphone)

The Nominious Death of Z. Robert Herchen, 1. Groove - Kevin Clark

Written for and premiered by Zach Herchen in 2006

live performance - Zach Herchen

Program Notes:
This piece was originally written for saxophonist Zachary Robert Herchen, hence the title. He asked me for a piece that would make him want to die, and I gave him this. The piece has a consummate technical challenge, and then what he was not expecting - acting. The T.S. Eliot poem is about the breakdown of language, about anxiety, and about the impossibility of meaningful action, but others have written better about the poem. I just set it to music for saxophone. Whenever a solfege syllable, such as ‘do re mi’, or a chromatic syllable, such as ‘di’, ‘ra’, and ‘ri’, that syllable is set on that note in the saxophone, with some modifications, and some exceptions. The text that appears without notes should in fact be read, this is a performance of poetry. The epigraph, which is in Italian and comes from Dante, should be read. The performer would be well advised to look at some criticism about the poem, some information on T.S. Eliot. The ‘harsh’ and ‘smooth’ notations denote two different attitudes one finds in the poem, though the attitudes in the music and the attitudes in the text do not always line up. The ‘harsh’ attitude is angry at the human condition, frustrated with existence, and is expressed through a more assaulting timbre. The ‘smooth’ attitude is passive, functioning in the world, verging on resigned, and should be played with a cleaner, more relaxed timbre. The low A-naturals and A-flats are played by covering the bell of the instrument with the knee, usually the left, to varying extents.

L!ST3N - Cory Kasprzyk

live premiere at the Afternow Concert Series - Lee Hinkle (baritone voice), Kristin Bacchiocchi-Stewart (flute), Zach Herchen (baritone sax), Rachel Gawell (cello), Adam Hopkins (Bass), and Catherine Pancake (dry ice),

Program Notes:
Recent works by Kasprzyk draw an intangible parallel between an awareness of one’s surroundings and music transcribed from (or inspired by) this environment. In L!ST3N, material was derived from analysis of a field recording (walking through Baltimore, MD), incorporating exact transcriptions of the conversations of a group of people, for example. Volatile at times, the piece lacks concern with traditional thoughts of what came before and what lies ahead, simply living in the moment. Harmonies were found in the field recording as well by delving into the acoustics of sound and pure physicality required of the incorporated instruments. The music also finds inspiration in an eclectic fusion of free improvisation, off-kilter pop/rock, and the evolution of western classical music, exploring the dichotomy of mixing strict notation with improvisation or other loosely based notational systems.

The spelling of the work’s title refers to the fast-passed world in which we live and reflects on particular cultures, some of which were found present in the original field recording. This pondering leads to concerns of who is left to feel the impact of today’s society on Earth and who may hold responsibility in such matters, encouraging a larger awareness of one’s surroundings. Listening: an act quite often unknown to our world leaders. We listen to the assurance of unremitting bloodshed throughout the world, accompanied by a complete disregard for the state of our environment.