Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (2004)

My Saxophone Concerto consists of two parts. The first one, ‘Arias’, begins with a heavy rhythmic pulse contrasted by the playful, almost cantabile virtuosity of the soloist. As the movement proceeds these contrasting musical elements begin to change and develop. They can be traced both in large and deep musical structures and on the surface level. Quite naturally the saxophone is the main character of the musical drama but its relationship to the orchestra is in perpetual change. Sometimes is rushes up to virtuoso fioriture, sometimes to rhythmic, almost dance-like dialogue with orchestral instruments, and sometimes it plays forth independent, expressive melodies.
The second movement ‘Nocturne’ is slow and poetic in character. Fragments built up from the previous movement’s musical material sometimes interrupt the surface of the movement; they seem to flow free and separated from earlier musical conncections and concept of time. The expression of the saxophone changes into more fragile, and little by little the music dissolves and leaves the listener in silence.
The work was composed with the funds provided by the Madetoja Foundation. It is dedicated to Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo.

Sebastian Fagerlund