Saxophone Sonata Extended Techniques
Joseph R. Connor of Lawrence University demonstrates extended techniques for performing the Maslanka Saxophone Sonata.
Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano – Some Thoughts on Performance
David Maslanka wrote this in February 2013
A lot of work has been done over many years to evolve a controlled and “beautiful” saxophone tone. There is a need for this kind of tone in my music, but there is also the push to the extreme. I am drawn to saxophones because of their wide-ranging vocal quality, which feels like a real extension of the human voice. Saxophone sound can break the heart with its softness and tenderness, and completely overwhelm with its power. “Beauty” cannot be confined to a narrow box labeled “beautiful.” Beauty is in the rightness of the musical moment, and that rightness can be a piercing cry at fff.
I think the strong appealing element of the Sonata is that it feels like an intimate journey and story for two people. There is a very close relationship between the saxophone and the piano. The piano does support the soloist in the traditional sense, but also leads and pushes. Intimacy is the key word, but that doesn’t mean just soft and sweet. It encompasses the full range of dialogue and emotions between two people. When this is established between the two players, the audience is immediately drawn in.
Fundamental issues in good music performance never change: careful attention to tempos, dynamics, articulations, and balances. If these things are carefully attended to, then 90% of the problem of what is called “interpretation” is solved.
First movement
m. 62: same tempo Q=90-96, no backing down; the ff is wild. […]
The Saxophone Sonata V2: Steven Jordheim’s Forward
Maslanka Press has released a beautiful new edition of David Maslanka’s Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano. Learn more —
Steven Jordheim, an early champion of the work and former teacher of saxophone at Lawrence University, wrote a forward and performance guide included in the new edition. Here is his forward.
Commissioned by the North American Saxophone Alliance and composed in 1988, David Maslanka’s Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano gives to the concert repertoire of the saxophone a monumental, riveting work that both rewards its performers and deeply affects audiences. At the time, he was living in Inwood, the northernmost neighborhood of Manhattan. Inwood Hill Park, which runs along the Hudson River, contains pronounced ridges, caves, and valleys. As Maslanka walked the park, contemplating the creation of this piece, he encountered a beast in his meditation. His first reaction was to run away, but in subsequent encounters he confronted it. Ultimately the beast devoured him. The work’s unironic tonal language, traditional three-movement structure, and dramatic interplay between saxophone and piano make it intensely accessible to all. Hearing the work at its 1989 premiere, I knew that the Sonata would become an important piece in Maslanka’s oeuvre. Its music engages and moves audiences deeply, and indeed the Sonata has become a frequently performed and recorded work.
No other piece that I’ve played demanded as much of me as a performer technically, expressively, physically, or emotionally. To deliver the Sonata as Maslanka intended, “on […]
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 115, New Uploads of Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three new uploads of the Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano.
From the Maslanka Archive – No. 32, Julian Velasco’s Interview of David – Part 2
From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David's life and work. This week, we are excited to feature Part 2 of Julian Velasco's interview of David from his home in Missoula, MT in 2016.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 107, Electrifying Saxophone Performances
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three electrifying new performances of works for saxophone: Recitation Book, Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble and Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 97, Playing in Quarantine
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three amazing examples of how a few talented musicians have used technology to play David's music and make it available on the internet for us to enjoy.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 96, Beautiful Solo Saxophone Performances
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three beautiful new solo performances of works for alto saxophone: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble - Movements I and III, and Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano - Movement I.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 84, More Amazing Saxophone Performances
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three amazing performances of some of David’s best saxophone music: Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Wind Ensemble, "Very Fast" from Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, and "Finale" from Mountain Roads.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 71, Slow Movements
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature three of David’s compositions (of which there are literally dozens to choose from) that highlight some of his most beautiful writing in slower tempi: "Movement I" from Recitation Book, "Slow" from Symphony No. 7, and "Slow" from Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 49, New Performances of Sonatas
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, we feature spectacular new performances of Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, Sonata for Horn and Piano, and Sonata for Bassoon and Piano.
Maslanka Weekly: Best of the Web – No. 8, The Sonata
Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web. This week, spectacular performances of Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, Sonata for Oboe and Piano, and Sonata for Bassoon and Piano.
The Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (1988) by David Maslanka: An Analytical and Performance Guide
Dr. Camille Olin’s doctoral dissertation on David’s Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano provides a performer’s guide to the sonata, as well as an analysis of the harmonic structure, harmonic language, and unifying features of the work. An interview with David is also included, providing a discussion of the work from the composer’s perspective.
Abstract:
In recent years, the Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano by David Maslanka has come to the forefront of saxophone literature, with many university professors and graduate students aspiring to perform this extremely demanding work. His writing encompasses a range of traditional and modern elements. The traditional elements involved include the use of “classical” forms, a simple harmonic language, and the lyrical, vocal qualities of the saxophone. The contemporary elements include the use of extended techniques such as multiphonics, slap tongue, manipulation of pitch, extreme dynamic ranges, and the multitude of notes in the altissimo range. Therefore, a theoretical understanding of the musical roots of this composition, as well as a practical guide to approaching the performance techniques utilized, will be a valuable aid and resource for saxophonists wishing to approach this composition.
Interview with Russell Peterson
Russell Peterson, professor of saxophone at Lawrence University in Appleton WI, interviewed David Maslanka on 30 November 1998 after premieres of Mountain Roads for saxophone quartet, commissioned and performed by the Transcontinental Saxophone Quartet and Song Book for alto saxophone and marimba, commissioned and performed by Steve Jordheim and Dane Richeson there. This interview touches a wide range of topics, including the composition process, David’s saxophone music, especially the Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, the relationship between the composer and the audience, working with consortia, recordings vs. live music, David’s pastel drawings, Sea Dreams, UFO Dreams, the Mass and much more. This interview was originally published in the Fall 1999 Saxophone Symposium
Russell Peterson: Today is an exciting day for saxophonists, two new pieces for saxophone by David Maslanka being premiered! How do you feel about having two new works that you’ve written come into being?
David Maslanka: It’s a lot all at once! And the bringing into place of any one thing – and both of these (Song Book and Mountain Roads) are sizable pieces, I hadn’t realized how large they were. It’s a lot of emotional work to put all of that into place. You guys do the technical end of it and prepare to your best musical ability, and of course […]