3rd Movement

I have tentatively titled the third movement "Apiary" as I see it as a microcosm of our busy and hectic 21st century lives. I am still going back and forth between "Leprechauns" and "Puck" as the title for the 2nd movement. I have been reading more about the history of Puck and even though his early associations are with the devil, Shakespeare made him more fairy-like. Maybe this movement is a microcosm of the devilish, trick-playing side in all of us. Help me out here by letting me know your thoughts.

Anyway, back to movement III. I added a two measure rhythmic introduction in the piano to open this movement and increased its tempo from 120 to 144. The piano left hand alone accompanies the first two measures of the rapid saxophone line. It has wide angular intervals befitting of the tension caused by our hectic pace. The rhythmic introduction is used to accompany the next two measures of the saxophone part but the chords are no longer static. There is gradual movement in each hand therefore adding tension. When the saxophone becomes more march-like in measure 7, the right hand of the piano does the busy saxophone line from measures 3-5 with a little punctuation added by the left hand. In measures 11 & 12, the piano returns to a fragment of the introduction underneath the FF sustained notes in the saxophone. The saxophone has a measure by itself before there is a recapitulation of measures 3-6. I now double the piano line in the right hand for added strength as we are approaching the end. The piano has the last comment on our busy lives by sustaining an unsettling diminished fifth echoed by the right hand fragment of the introduction refusing to stop.

I originally thought that I would be adding a lot to these pieces, but I have only added some brief introductions and an interlude here and there. Even though I am revising a much earlier composition, I find that they are very compact and intense short movements. They are almost Webernesque, where everything that needs to be said is stated over a very short period of time. We will see if the other movements hold true to form or whether they will be expanded more than I have already done to movements I-III.

I work in concert pitch, but the score I am posting has the saxophone part transposed.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/microcosmsblog.html

Dr. B