Plum Blossoms

for alto saxophone and piano (2004), ca. 6’

Score available from Radnofsky Couper Editions

The musical material of this piece is influenced by a Nanguan melody, Plum Blossoms.  Nanguan, a traditional southern style Chinese/Taiwanese music, dates back to 500AD. This melody serves as a basis for a fantasia, which springs into three sections of music with two cadenza-like solo passages in between them. This elegant Nanguan melody is first subtly introduced in fragments, while a more complete melody isn't presented until the end of the piece. 

Plum Blossoms for Saxophone and Piano was commissioned by the World-Wide Concurrent Premieres & Commissions Fund, Inc. and is dedicated to Ken Radnofsky.  It was premiered by many performers around the world near the same time.