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Motherless Child Variations
My Motherless Child Variations (2002) is based on the mournful Spiritual, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child". I have tried to stay out of the way of the tune and to present it in many guises, always careful to keep it recognizable. After a brief introduction, the melody occurs in six versions, in various characters. It is first presented in a somber duet between baritone and tenor saxes, alto and soprano joining in for a bluesier four-part version. After a spirited, mixed-meter interlude, the tune returns in a new and funkier manifestation, led by the baritone saxophone playing a repetitive bassline, as well as a chorale version in which an unexpected harmonization unfolds in the instruments' highest registers. A subsequent gloss on the melody interpolates driving compound meter passages between piecemeal statements of the tune, in emulation of the "call and response" music so typical of the African American tradition. The harmonic structure implied by the melody supplies the backbone for three ensuing jazz swing choruses, alto, tenor, and soprano saxes soloing successively over the chord changes. The tune then resurfaces explicitly in one last straightforward and passionate rendition.
Program Notes by: Perry Goldstein
Composer...
Perry Goldstein
Perry Goldstein's recent compositions include "(W)eeeeee!," for cello and piano, for Juilliard Quartet
cellist Joel Krosnick and Gilbert Kalish; two works for symphonic band, "The Abundant Air: Concerto
for Saxophone Quartet and Band" and the song cycle "Should This Be Found," for the United States
Military Academy Band at West Point; and "Lessons of the Master" for the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet.
Goldstein is especially well known for his saxophone music. Since his first collaboration in the medium with the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet in 1993 on "Blow!" (called "genuine fireworks" by the Aachener Zeitung and "a raw-boned tour-de-force" by the Buffalo News), he has composed a dozen works for such groups as the West Point, Prism, and Capitol Saxophone Quartets, and his music has been performed by leading saxophonists world-wide, including Arno Bornkamp, Philippe Geiss, Susan Fancher, Joseph Lulloff, Otis Murphy, and Kenneth Tse among others.
His music is available on Challenge, Dutch Vanguard, New World, and United States Military Records. Goldstein is on the faculty of Stony Brook University where he is currently the Director of the College of Arts, Culture, and Humanities.
Performers...
Aurelia Saxophone Quartet
Formed in 1982 by four young Dutch saxophonists rehearsing in Via Aurelia in Rome, the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet became what is now known as one of the most
sensational, pioneering chamber-music ensembles in the world. The quartet, consisting of Johan van der Linden (soprano saxophone), Niels Bijl (alto saxophone),
Arno Bornkamp (tenor saxophone), and Willem van Merwijk (baritone saxophone) currently live in Holland and perform concerts around the world, ranging from Suntory
Hall in Tokyo to the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.
The Aurelia Quartet has been featured on radio and television in numerous venues ranging from Washington, DC to Tirana, Albania. They have performed with pianists Ivo Janssen and Juan Pablo Dobal, bandoneon players, Gustavo Toker and Carel Kraaijenhof, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Georgian women's choir, Mzetamze, the gamelan ensemble, Multifoon, Slagwerkgroep Den Haag, the Japanese saxophone quartet Trouvère, Hague Residentie Orchestra, and the Limburg Symphony Orchestra.
With over seventy world premieres of works by living composers, the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet has established an international reputation for being a champion of new music. The quartet currently has nine CDs to the group's name, one of which won an Edison and international praise, setting a new standard for saxophone quartets the world over. For more information about the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, please visit their website at: www.aureliasax4.nl.