If on a winter’s night a saxophone quartet (2023)
This piece was written for my friends in the PULSE quartet at Michigan State University. The recording you see is from a concert from October 3rd, 2023. The work was also selected by the Sinta Quartet for their 2023 Annual Call for Scores and you can bet that performance will be available here as soon as possible!
The short story here is that the quartet takes inspiration from a book, If on a winter's night a traveler by the Italian author Italo Calvino. The book begins by explaining to you, the reader, that you’re about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new book, If on a winter’s night a traveler, and to get comfortable. But then, every other chapter takes a break from talking about you and your experience reading the book to provide a series of short stories, each completely unconnected in genre, style, and setting, but all with one thing in common: each ends right before the moment of climax or, if you want to sound intelligent, apotheosis.
I love this book, and when PULSE expressed their interest in writing a series of short movements, this fell into place almost effortlessly. I’ve been so grateful for this collaboration from Day 1, and this recording proves that my hunch to write for this group was a very fortunate one.
Are you interested in playing this work yourself? If so, I hope you’ll reach out to me at ryangalik32@gmail.com. I’m entirely self-published, but my works are all free or pay-what-you-like, and I’m happy to share the score and parts with anyone interested in my music.