Elements for Saxophone Quartet Movement I

I am back writing about my compositions after a hiatus of almost a year. I have been commissioned by the h2 Saxophone Quartet and we decided to have me write a quartet that would be playable by good high school, college, and weekend warrior quartets. The piece I am creating is called "Elements" and is designed to musically portray the essential nature of the Classical Greek elements,
fire, water, air and earth and their astrological implications.

The first movement is Fire whose essential nature is strong and controlling. The music contains a lot of forceful sections, primarily in a homophonic style. In order to contrast these sections, quieter polyphonic sections are used that build into the more forceful sections. The technique of counterpoint in music is one that demands great control, thus fitting subject matter.

The harmonic style is a mixture of quartal harmony and triadic harmony. The music wanders freely between keys therefore creating harmonic interest. There is much rhythmic interest through the use of syncopation and hemiola.

I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/elements_blog.html.

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Dr. B