The contemporary solo tenor saxophone

Website(s) : http://www.cflmusic.com/works/ventriloquist/ / http://www.geoffreylandman.com

Geoffrey Landman presents two new works for tenor saxophone. Ventriloquist, by Chicago-based Chris Fisher-Lochhead and a world premiere by Marcelo Lazcano for tenor saxophone and vocalist.

Biography

Geoffrey Landman is a New York City based performer, teacher, and advocate of the saxophone and new music. He has collaborated with ensembles such as Either/Or, Talea Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Argento New Music Project, and is a founding member and soprano chair of the New Thread Quartet.

Geoffrey has worked with composers such as Bernhard Lang, Christian Lauba, and Philippe Leroux among others. Geoffrey holds degrees from the University of Michigan (BM), University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (MM), Post-graduate work at the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel in Switzerland, and is currently working toward his Doctoral degree at the New England Conservatory as the first DMA candidate for saxophone performance in the school’s history.

More information

This recital will present two new works for solo tenor saxophone that use the instrument in new and remarkably different ways. “Ventriloquist” by Chicago-based Chris Fisher-Lochhead approaches the instrument by moving a single key at a time, creating a progression of sonorities from quarter-tones to multiphonics. This piece was premiered in Brooklyn, NY in May 2013, and the performance in Strasbourg will be a European premiere. A yet-to-be titled piece by Marcelo Lazcano will incorporate speech with melodic sound, creating a message distorted by the instrument. These composers represent the cutting edge in American composition, both completing doctorates at Northwestern University and University of California San Diego, two highly respected institutions in American new music.

Chris Fisher-Lochhead (b. 1984) is a composer/performer currently residing in Chicago. He has worked with a wide array of performers, including the Arditti Quartet, Marcus Weiss, Ensemble Dal Niente, The Spektral Quartet, Graeme Jennings. He is currently completing a doctorate at Northwestern University, where he has studied with Lee Hyla, Jay Alan Yim, and Hans Thomalla.

Ventriloquist was originally written as material for my saxophone quartet, Blissing Out. Technically, the saxophone writing, which is constructed entirely from progressions of sonorities achieved by changing only one key at a time, was an attempt to come to terms with an instrument of which I had no experience playing. Because all of the creative decisions were based entirely on technical considerations and not on a critical ear, the resulting sounds flow into one another in ways they might not if aural considerations were prioritized. I think of the process of writing this piece as finding my own way through the saxophone’s labyrinth of sonic possibilities.!

Marcelo F. Lazcano is a Chilean-American composer born in Valparaiso, Chile in 1977. His studies in composition began in 2007 when he studied privately with Daniel Kessner; that same year he won the 14th Los Angeles Valley College Composers Competition with his piece Israel, for orchestra. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in composition from the University of California, San Diego, where he has studied with Philippe Manoury, Roger Reynolds, Rand Steiger, and Chinary Ung.

Piece for tenor saxophone and vocalist is based on my work about the hidden meaning of texts and the interpretation of garbled messages. This line of work is inspired by my research of the Spanish language, my native tongue, which is rich in the use of metaphor. It combines melodic passages with garbled text. The objective is to attempt to convey the garbled message so that audiences can have some sort of idea that they can (hopefully) relate to. To this end, the Saxophone is not just a musical instrument; it becomes a true extension of the performer, in order to showcase his abilities with the instrument as well as to provide an amplification to the message.