Hubert Howe

Soprano Saxophone and Fixed Media

Composer's Note:

In recent works, I have explored different ways of structuring inharmonic partials of a sound. This work employs frequency shifting so that each partial above the fundamental is 17/24 of that of a harmonic spectrum. The amplitude of each partial is controlled separately, so that there is a continually shifting timbre. The soprano saxophone represents a fixed element over this continually changing backdrop of sound components fading in or out. In the middle part of the piece, the inharmonic components change from continually fading in and out (marked “1" in the score) to being attacked individually (marked “2"). When playing slow notes, the saxophone plays the “fundamental” of the inharmonic sounds, but when playing short notes in the middle of the piece, it plays inharmonic components that line up with equal temperament. The score shows only the "fundamental" tones above which the frequency-shifted components fade in and out; it does not show those components. The work was composed in the winter of 2023, and the fixed media part was generated by Csound.