Listen to a cool piece

Pull Guy · 02-07-2003, 05:29 AM

As soon as I had posted this to the old board, it shut down! So, here it is again...

A friend told me that someone on this board (the old site) had been inquiring about the saxophone piece by my friend Jim Matheson. I can't seem to find the thread with the question, so I'm posting to the subject areas that I am guessing would be most appropriate.

For those interested, a little background on Jim: he is a young composer based in New York City who has already received such honors as a Guggenheim grant and a fellowship at the Yaddo colony; he has had commissions from groups including the Chicago Symphony (for its chamber music series and for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago) and the Albany Symphony; his music has also been played by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and he has had a piece released on the CRI label.

His saxophone piece, for alto and piano, is called _Pull_; it was written in 1995 (an early work, at this point; I think he needs to write another one!). I invite you to listen to a demo recording I made a few years ago, available in a streaming file at Jim's website. The url is:

http://www.bofamusic.com/pull.html

Feel free to post comments here, and don't hold back -- I can take it!

Pull Guy

Razzy · 03-31-2003, 02:23 AM

That is really cool... wow. Nice to know somebody's doing some modern classical work for sax! Or at least has done recently

Ask him to do another one!!

Pull Guy · 04-01-2003, 05:51 AM

Thanks for the post, Razzy; glad you liked the piece. (For the record, there are a lot of composers out there writing for saxophone these days, but your comment is probably indicative of the fact that more people need to hear their work.) And I am working on getting Jim to write another piece -- once I have enough funds on hand, an order will be placed!

Pull Guy · 09-24-2003, 07:13 AM

Pulitzer Prize winner John Harbison (composer of San Antonio - Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano)said, regarding Pull:

"I liked [ Pull] VERY much, especially the ingenious and unexpected instrumental fittings which actually made sax & piano sound like a good idea. Also appreciated the way the continuity defies expectation."

Plans are in the works for a commercial recording by a well-known saxophonist. Hopefully more news on that soon!