Saxophone Concerto (Adams)

The Saxophone Concerto was Adams's first composition following his three-hour oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary. Adams, whose father played alto saxophone in swing bands during the 1930s, has cited his early exposure to such jazz saxophonists as John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and Wayne Shorter as inspiration for the piece. The composer described the work's style in the score program notes, writing, "While the concerto is not meant to sound jazzy per se, its jazz influences lie only slightly below the surface." Noting the relative scarcity of saxophone concertos in the classical repertoire, Adams further remarked:

A composer writing a violin or piano concerto can access a gigantic repository of past models for reference, inspiration or even cautionary models. But there are precious few worthy concertos for saxophone, and the extant ones did not especially speak to me. But I knew many great recordings from the jazz past that could form a basis for my compositional thinking, among them "Focus," a 1961 album by Stan Getz for tenor sax and an orchestra of harp and strings arranged by Eddie Sauter. Although clearly a "studio" creation, this album featured writing for the strings that referred to Stravinsky, Bartók and Ravel. Another album, "Charlie Parker and Strings," from 1950, although more conventional in format, nonetheless helped to set a scenario in my mind for way the alto sax could float and soar above an orchestra. Another album that I'd known since I was a teenager, "New Bottle Old Wine," with Canonball Adderley [sic] and that greatest of all jazz arrangers, Gil Evans, remained in mind throughout the composing of the new concerto as a model to aspire to.^[1]

Thus, Adams stipulated that the concerto be played in the jazz style of saxophone performance, as opposed to the classical "French" style of playing typically heard in such pieces as Maurice Ravel's Boléro and Darius Milhaud's La création du monde.^[1][4][5]

The saxophonist Timothy McAllister became acquainted with the composer after performing saxophone parts in Adams's Nixon in China and City Noir. McAllister later suggested the possibility of performing a new work by Adams, to which the saxophonist recalled, "...we were having dinners and lunches out at New World Symphony (in Miami Beach, Florida); I believe it was March of 2011. We were walking to dinner one night and he said, 'I think I should write you a piece.' I worked hard to contain my elation at the mere suggestion." McAllister continued, "I let it go, and over a year went by, and -- you know how it is with people, you kind of fall in and out of touch. I just kind of stayed on his radar as I kept doing 'City Noir,' and then in February of 2012 I received an e-mail out of the blue from him, saying that he'd finished 'The Gospel According to the Other Mary,' and he was thinking about the next project and he'd like to do a saxophone concerto in Sydney, and asked if I was free."^[5] McAllister later described the concerto as "some of the hardest music I've ever played," adding, "It's traditional in a way that's incredibly challenging."^[6]

The Saxophone Concerto has a duration of roughly 30 minutes and is composed in two parts:

1. Animato: tranquillo, suave
2. Molto vivo: a hard, driving pulse

The work is scored for alto saxophone and an orchestra comprising piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn (doubling 3rd oboe), two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, three horns, two trumpets, harp, piano, celesta, and strings.^[1]