PROGRAM NOTE
Gaze is a short work created for “Postcards from America”—a wide-ranging project initiated by saxophonist John Sampen together with composer-pianist Marilyn Shrude—and is derived from my larger Under the Sun’s Gaze – Concerto da Camera III, an ensemble work for 9 players composed in 2004. In this earlier work a soprano saxophone enters only at midpoint of the composition as an almost unanticipated guest-soloist, eventually becoming integrated into the fabric of the ensemble. It has long been my hope to find a way to cast that soprano sax solo in a different setting as well, and John and Marilyn’s wonderful project provided me with this opportunity. The lyrical, somewhat poignant, melody is set to the reverberant, slightly hazy, background of a piano motif that is also rooted in the earlier composition. Together they form a new entity, becoming something of a “song without words.”
—Shulamit Ran
INFORMATION
Commissioned by John Sampen and Marilyn Shrude
For the Postcards from America Project
First performance:
March 31, 2023
North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Meeting
University of Mississippi
European premiere:
December 7, 2023
World Saxophone Congress
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
John Sampen, soprano saxophone
Marilyn Shrude, piano
Duration: c. 5’
SHEET MUSIC
Available from your favorite sheet music seller, or directly from Theodore Presser.