Music for the Saxophone Duet Genre: an Annotated Bibliography of Selected Original Music Page: 14

                                
Concerto, for saxophone quartet and orchestra, GrB
Line Drawings, for saxophone quartet, DP
Pensive Soliloquy, for alto saxophone and piano, Pres
Serenata Concertante, for flute, oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone and wind ensemble, Pres
Sounding, for alto saxophone and piano, South
Comments:
Samuel Adler was born in Mannheim, Germany in 1928. He moved with his family to the
United States in 1939. He studied composition with Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, Hugo Nor-
den, Paul Pisk, Walter Piston and Randall Thompson. He received a B.M from Boston Universi-
ty and an M.A. from Harvard University. He has been awarded several honorary Doctorates of
Music from Harvard University, Southern Methodist University, St. Mary's College and Saint
Louis Conservatory. From 1957 to 1966, Adler served as Professor of Composition at the North
Texas State University. In 1966, he became Professor of Composition at Eastman School of Mu-
sic and later chairman of the Composition Department until his retirement in 1994. He joined the
faculty of the Juilliard School of Music in 1997.5
Contrasting Inventions is a two-movement composition for alto and tenor saxophone. It
was commissioned by saxophonist Lawrence Gwozdz in 1998.
Adler writes about this composition:
Contrasting Inventions is a short work for alto and tenor saxophone in two con-
trasting movements. The first is a slow and "bluesy" piece which gives the per-
formers an opportunity to play lyrical lines as well as some soft staccato figures,
one of these actually also recurs in the second movement. Wide skips are also a
feature for both instruments and tax the performer's ability to execute these rather
difficult leaps smoothly. After coming to a quiet ending, the first Invention is fol-
lowed by a fast and furious second one which is almost a perpetual motion until it
15 Rhett Lyle Bender, "Annontated Bibliography of Published Saxophone Quartets By American Composers"
(D.M.A. diss., University of Georgia, 2000).

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