Four Homages (2014)

for saxophone quartet

I. Homage To Schoenberg

Duration: ca. 16' 

Commissioned by the Asylum Saxophone Quartet

First Performance: Asylum Saxophone Quartet

For score/parts, please contact info@alanthomas-guitar.com

Programme Notes

My Four Homages for saxophone quartet were commissioned by the Asylum Quartet, and premiered by the group in 2014.

In writing homages to four of my favourite musicians (Arnold Schoenberg, Radiohead, Elliott Smith and Django Reinhardt), I have sought to capture something of their styles and characters. So, in the case of Elliott Smith it is a wistful and melancholy feeling that obtains, while my view of Schoenberg is summed up by the completely tonal music of his Homage. The Homage to Radiohead is subtitled “featuring favourite chord and wrongly placed things”, hinting at two noteworthy aspects of the piece: that it draws on the Radiohead song “Everything in its Right Place” for its musical material (thoughin an abstracted and “wrongly placed” way), and also that the song's first four electric piano notes create a chord that has fascinated me for many years. The Django Reinhardt Homage is intended to be pure "Hot Club de Paris" fun.

My other goal with these Four Homages was to write idiomatic music that was enjoyable to play, and in this I was greatly helped by the members of the Asylum Quartet: Joseph Abad, Tony Speranza, Max Schwimmer and Andrew Barnhart, to whom the piece is gratefully dedicated.