Work
Huff
for saxophone quartet
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About
Huff is both the act of exhaling, and the sound of air moving through a wind instrument. The piece starts as a saxophonist would: after the instrument comes out of its case and gets put together, the first thing the player does is blow warm air.
I wanted to write something that would work for both professional quartets such as Saxcess, and proficient school ensembles in both SATB and AATB formation. As a composition, it didn’t come together straight away: the 12/8 time signature sidetracked me into a maniacal type of Mexican banda music, which turned into a work called Banda Chiflada. That and Huff are very different in character, but they are still two pieces cut from the same compound time cloth.
Commissioned note
Composed at the request of Debbie Rawson & Saxcess. Written with the support of the University of Otago Mozart Fellowship.
Performance history
30 Jun 2012: Performed by Saxcess: Debbie Rawson (soprano sax), Reuben Chin (alto sax), Hayden Sinclair (tenor sax), Graham Hanify (baritone sax), at the Cromwell Memorial Hall, in Cromwell
01 Jul 2012: Performed by Saxcess at the Lake Wanaka Centre, in Wanaka
06 Jul 2012: Performed by Saxcess at the Whakatane Baptist Centre, in Whakatane
07 Jul 2012: Performed by Saxcess at the Woolshed Theatre, in Te Awamutu
08 Jul 2012: Performed by Saxcess at Ascension Winery, in Warkworth
10 Jul 2012: Performed by Saxcess at the Old Library Building Arts Centre, in Whangarei
16 Jul 2012: Performed by Saxcess at Expressions Genesis Energy Theatre, in Upper Hutt
09 Jun 2015: Performed by Raucous: Tom Botting (sop sax), Chris Park (alto sax), Jamie Hutton (tenor sax), Jack Julian (baritone sax) at Christ's College, Christchurch.
10 Jun 2015: Performed by Raucous: Tom Botting (sop sax), Chris Park (alto sax), Jamie Hutton (tenor sax), Jack Julian (baritone sax) at Middleton Grange Arts Centre, Christchurch.