Hubert Howe

Alto Saxophone and Fixed Media

Composer's Note:

Unbalanced is my first work for a solo instrument with electronic accompaniment. The piece is in four large sections, with a fast introduction, a slow middle section, a fast quasi-reprise of the beginning, and a moderately paced ending. In it, I have tried to take advantage of the expressive qualities of the saxophone against the fixed aspects of the electronic part, which are also expressive in their own way. The piece consists of numerous short sections that make up each larger section, and some of the short passages feature many notes in one octave against a few in others. The saxophone is almost always playing alone in the register where it occurs. The "unbalanced" nature of this writing is what suggested the title to me. The piece was written in 2013-14, and the electronic part is generated by the csound program.