ZE DIGITAL — TATTVAS for 4 saxophonists and orchestra — STUDY SCORE — NEW !

This composition for 4 saxophonists and orchestra is a logical development in the further development for my oeuvre specifically for saxophone. I am of the belief that Belgian composers have an artistic duty to create repertoire for this instrument because its creator is also a Belgian. The request came from LUCA School of Arts in view of my retirement in July 2027. To celebrate this, we opted together for this artistic project.

A concertante for saxophone quartet and orchestra is a line-up that is not very common. Moreover, it gives the opportunity to have several saxophonists making music with orchestra.

From this perspective, I thought formally that it would be interesting to cover the different types of saxophones and not just stick to the conventional saxophone quartet. Hence, in this composition, each movement features a quartet of the same type of instrument, four soprano, four alto and four tenor saxophones.

I therefore decided to create a five-part work where the outer movements would be the classical saxophone quartet as soloists and the inner parts would be a quartet of four of the same instruments:

I.         SATB

II.        SSSS

III.       AAAA

IV.       TTTT

V.        SATB

Tattva is Sanskrit for datness, principle, reality or truth. According to various Indian philosophical schools, a ‘tattva’ is an element or reality that is an aspect of a deity.

The elements are:

earth (prithvi), water (apas), fire (tejas), air (vayu)and ether

(akasha), which every human being is said to consist of. Thus, each volume has been given the following title:

I.         AKASHA for SATB

II.        VAYU for SSSS

III.       TEJAS for AAAA

IV.       APAS for TTTT

V.        PRITHVI for SATB

The result is a large work of 33': in this unique construction, it is even possible for each movement to be performed by a different quartet so that potentially as many as 16 different players could participate.

The composition itself has become enormously colorful and virtuosic with a full standard instrumentation in symphony orchestra, with piano, celesta and lots of percussion.

I linked the choice of subject matter to the nature of the composed quartet. The first movement ‘Akasha’ is an evocation of the universe, imperceptible, infinite and constantly moving. To realize this, I composed a twelve-tone sequence that mainly moves on thirds,

allowing for stacks that are not harmonically functional. The entire first movement is an expiration of six series where the end note of each series is the starting note of the next transposition. In the middle, the series retrograde back into inversion. This is the so-called harmonic constellation on which the movement attempts to evoke the universe. The notes lie in the strings that constantly glissando shift to the next note. Around that come interactions of saxophones and the rest of the orchestra.

‘Vayu’, air, was meant to sound fluid and fleeting. It is a virtuoso scherzo in which the virtuosity of the soprano saxophone comes in handy. Because we now have a quartet arrangement of four of the same instruments, parallel movements and cluster canons are ideal for suggesting this.

‘Tejas’ goes one step further in playing out cluster movements. In the middle movement, a chorale emerges and is adopted by the different groups.

The warm sonority of four tenor saxophones seemed appropriate to portray the ‘water’ theme. A continuous 5/8 meter evokes the flowing rhythm and incessant movement of water. Small interjections imitating each other in orchestra and soloists depict the falling of water drops.

In the finale, we come from the depths of the earth to a grand climactic build-up in the form of a passacaglia on thirds stacks. It is an orgy of sound that should serve as the conclusion of an adventurous 33' course.

ORCHESTRATION: