Context

Performance

Instrumentation

-- 2222 2221 13 0 str

Classification

Saxofonkonsert

Subject heading

Xm

Language

First performance

Date

1991-01-19

Location

Stockholm, Berwaldhallen/Sveriges riksradio

Performers

John E Kelly, Radiosymfonikerna, dir Kent Nagano

Background

Commissioned by

Sveriges riksradio

Tribute to

John-Edward Kelly

Comments about the work

The rigid pitch-relationships we have come to expect in the resounding musicalworld are a logical result of certain physical laws, but do not necessarilycorrespond to the inner realities of music: in inner musical space, the intervalscan be determined as freely as the individual fantasy deems necessary.Accordingly, resounding intervals 'stretched' microtonally might concur muchmore precisely with the intended inner musical gesture than a 'clean' intonationever could. (In earlier musical cultures, this was an accepted andfrequently-employed practise of music-making.) It is in this sense, and not outof common sound-effect, that Miklós Maros has used quarter-tones extensivelyin the Concerto. Quite usual intervals, in and of themselves utterly simple,acquire an altogether different expressive quality when 'stretched' in thismanner. Again and again, whether playfully bouncing about musical space or indulgingin the sheer expressivity of a single chord, Miklós Maros reveals the innerqualities of the sonorities themselves, applying their properties as basiccompositional elements and using them to guide the listener into the silentmusical spheres. And even though his music is generally characterised by anunshakably earnest air, one cannot help notice with what obviously greatpleasure he expresses his musical visions in an original, self-confidentlanguage, here tipping ever-so-slightly scales of norm, there subtly bending therules of conventional expectation. Is it not with a warm laugh and a cozy smilethat Maros, in the final triumphant trio of the Concerto , crowns the twotrumpets' fifths with a 'lopsided' sixth ('off-pitch' by a quarter-tone!) in thesaxophone? His marvellous joy in the inherent, lively flexibility of music is not tobe concealed. All of Miklós Maros' music bears the distinctive imprint of its creator and of theparticular inner world of movement from which it has emitted. Through itssonorities also resounds a most extraordinary sort of inner quiet: even in itsmost subdued moments, the music of Miklós Maros never stops dancing. Text: John-Edward Kelly. From Phono Suecia nr 23 (1992)

List

The work

Composer

Miklós Maros

Title

[Konsert] Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra

Duration

22 minutes

Composition year

1990

Information

Identification number

125192

Work administrator

SMIC (SMIC)

Format

SCORE

search.example

Preview

Sheet music sample (PDF)

Alto saxophone