La Verdadera Destreza for tenor saxophone and piano was commissioned in 2022 as part of an ongoing project called The Contemporary Tenor Repertoire Initiative [CTRI] 28 saxophonists from across the globe participated in this Consortium Commission of dr. Piet J.Swerts, Belgium.
To recognize their contributions in the development of this repertory, they are listed below:
Jeffrey E.Vickers (Michigan), Steve Carmichael(Virginia), Chris Anderson(Illinois),
James Barrera(California), Michael Bovenzi(North Florida), Diane Hunger(Germany), Matthew Patnode(North Dakota), Nathan Henshaw(New South Wales, Australia), Christopher Carbonneau(California), David Stambler(Pennsylvania), Drew Hosler(Ohio), Joshua Thomas(Connecticut), Matthew Mahaffey(Texas), Michael Christensen(Kansas), David Babich(Virginia), Bob Eason(Texas), Greg Rife(Illinois), Ryan Johnson(Georgia), James O'Donnell(Pennsylvania), Coleman Wright(South Carolina), Brian Rodesch(Tennessee), Julian Orem(Indiana), Greg Riley(Ohio), Joe Murphy(Ohio), Benjamin D.Sorrell(California), Richard Schwartz(New Mexico), Dannel Espinoza (Mississipi) and Clifford Leaman (South Carolina).
The commonly used term for the early modern Spanish fencing tradition is destreza. The precise translation of the term "destreza" is "dexterity" or "skill, ability," making la verdadera destreza the “true skill" or "the true art." Although destreza is primarily a system of swordsmanship, it is intended to be a universal style of combat, applicable to all weapons in theory, but in practice devoted to the rapier specifically, or the rapier combined with a defensive weapon like a cloak, a buckler, or a parrying dagger, in addition to other weapons like the late Renaissance two-handed montante; the flail; and polearms like the pike and halberd. Its principles are based on logic, geometry, and are connected to ideals of thought, philosophy, and morality, embracing a range of Renaissance humanist educational tenets, with a focus on the works of classical writers including Aristotle, Euclid and Plato.
It appeared to be a fitting metaphor depicturing the idea behind this music. This virtuosic composition is sort of a sister work to Klonos, which I wrote in 1993 for alto saxophone and piano, but this time I intended to explore more fully the variety of melodic moods and twists. Through the usage of the altissimo register, it obviously highlights the player's technical proficiency among other things, but technique per se was undoubtedly not my intention. I wanted to write a convincing piece with contains above all a lot of passion.
ONLY AVAILABLE FROM 1RST OF OCTOBER 2024.