Mead, Andrew - Scena
This tremendously exciting piece manages to hold the listener's attention even with monophonic texture, which can so often sound one-dimensional. The interest is maintained through changes in range, volume and tempo. A harmonic language is established through sequence and recycling certain melodic shapes. A bizarre moment seems to quote Ligeti's Six Bagatelles of which the composer was surely not unaware. The piece becomes more flighty and packed with angst as it progresses. There is a real precedent for virtuosic solo saxophone works since Berio's Sequenza IXb and Boulez's 'Dialogue de l'ombre Double' both of which share qualities with this work. A brilliant recording by Timothy McAllister conveys the musical ideas marvellously and through his competence hides whether the piece is really idiomatic for the saxophone. The work was written for oboe orginally but was the title piece of McAllister's 1999 album release, being also the standout composition. Unlike the Berio and Boulez, the piece gathers energy throughout and careens into a dangerous and vicious ending.