New chamber work: Over Wind and Waves for saxophone quartet

New Chamber work: Over Wind and Waves for saxophone quartet

for saxophone quartet

1.     Voices of the Tide

2.     Purity of Motion

3.     Curl

4.     Crest

5.     A Point Beyond the Wild Pacific Breakers

commissioned by Scots College, Sydney

Premiered by Nexas Quartet 25th June 2022.

Jeremy Rose’s Saxophone Quartet: Over Wind and Waves, in 5 movements, explores the physical dimensions of waves and wave interaction in musical forms, and provides an evocative musical portrait of the spirit of surfing. Influences include surf rock, jazz, Ravel and Rose’s own developing aesthetic of minimalism. Rose explores many facets of wave behaviour, including reflection, refraction, diffusion, and superposition. Some movements have a great sense of movement and energy, building in momentum towards a climactic finale, whilst others create a more peaceful and meditative state.

The work draws inspiration from a poem, Surfer Girl, by Lea Knowles, in which he describes the experience of a young girl’s excitement and love affair with surfing; her sense of obsession, the purity of motion, the ecstasy of experience and how her instinctive agility is put to the test. There is also a sense of yearning of peace and tranquillity.

"Waves are the practice of water. To speak of waves apart from water, or water apart from waves is a delusion." Suzuki Roshi

The work is also inspired by the above phrase by renowned Zen monk, Shunryu Suzuki (1904-1971) in a reference to the unachievable challenge of calming one’s mind in the process of meditation. Suzuki and Knowles here both present a notion of unattainable control - whether it be our mind or the environment. This theme of yearning and a state of being in a constant challenge is nurtured through the work, presenting an unresolved climax. However, it is the inability to control our environment that has the most resonance with our times, given the increasing occurrence of natural weather disasters. The work acts as a growing call to respect mother nature and be in flow with our environment.