Crossed  
for violin, alto saxophone and piano  

This work is closedly related to a composition written during the summer of 2002 entitled Crossings, scored for violin, saxophone quartet and piano and written for the Viennese Saxophone Quartet. Both pieces use the same harmonic structure--a seven-pitch set based on the initials of each of the current performers in that quartet.

While this new work borrows from the central section of the earlier composition, its approach is entirely different, and completely new material is created from the same set of 7-notes, which are distributed in a 3x4 matrix. Hence, the idea of crossing from one set to another, based on a modulation scheme made up of two sets of tritones (G-C-sharp; D-A-flat). Voice crossing, imitative techniques and a "cross-fertilization" of timbres was all an attempt to join together the wildly disparate sonorities between the three instruments. The work is in one movement, formally divided into three sections: slow, fast, slow.

It is dedicated to Patrick R. Jones.

Performances