Obscure Lucidity

Premiere: November 5th, 2021 by The University of Texas Graduate Saxophone Quartet (Connor O’Toole, Olivia Phaneuf, Megan Elks, & Joel Ferst).

When I first began composing, my canvas was most regularly the full symphony orchestra. Over time, I became quite familiar with all of the instruments in the orchestra, their roles, capabilities, and limitations. When I was asked to write my first piece for wind band, I was suddenly presented with an unfamiliar set of characters that didn’t belong to an orchestra: the saxophone family. How would I score for saxophones? Should they act as brass instruments? Woodwinds? Should they fill the hole left by the absence of strings? Every instrument in the wind band seemed to have a defined set of archetypes as a function of the music, with the exception of these instruments.

What began as a daunting task helped me realize the beauty and diverse potential of the saxophone family. These instruments could function as all of the things I theorized, and more. Obscure Lucidity is an ode to the saxophone, as much as it is an ode to finding clarity in the vast sea of ambiguity and complexity. Taking influences from classical, jazz, choral, pop, and contemporary music, the piece represents the extensive breadth of roles which the saxophone serves in our ever-diverse world of modern music.