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Commissioned for the 17th World Saxophone Congress, this jazz/classical crossover work for tenor saxophone and piano is inspired by the natural landscape of "El Tajo" (the pit), a 390-foot deep chasm found within the mountainous Andalusia region of southern Spain.
This unique landscape divides the town of Ronda, perched precariously above on its canyon walls, into two separate parts. A single 200-year old bridge joins this town together and offers the only passage across this menacing gorge. After serving as a prison during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), this bridge has had a troublesome history. Many of its prisoners were thrown into the gorge and are said to still haunt the nearby buildings today.
This piece aims to share my experience of a one-night stay along the edge of the gorge in the winter of 2014. The sound of the wind as it traveled through the gorge is unlike anything I have ever heard before. The eerie melodies of the wind are re-created here as they begin slowly howling against the canyon walls before developing into an exhilarating pulse driven journey "through the windswept gorge."
Commissioned for the 17th World Saxophone Congress, this jazz/classical crossover work for tenor saxophone and piano is inspired by the natural landscape of "El Tajo" (the pit), a 390-foot deep chasm found within the mountainous Andalusia region of southern Spain.
This unique landscape divides the town of Ronda, perched precariously above on its canyon walls, into two separate parts. A single 200-year old bridge joins this town together and offers the only passage across this menacing gorge. After serving as a prison during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), this bridge has had a troublesome history. Many of its prisoners were thrown into the gorge and are said to still haunt the nearby buildings today.
This piece aims to share my experience of a one-night stay along the edge of the gorge in the winter of 2014. The sound of the wind as it traveled through the gorge is unlike anything I have ever heard before. The eerie melodies of the wind are re-created here as they begin slowly howling against the canyon walls before developing into an exhilarating pulse driven journey "through the windswept gorge."