Gradus
Philip Glass
About this work:
Gradus is for solo soprano saxophone and is one of the first pieces Glass composed upon his return to New York from his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and work with Ravi Shankar. Structurally, Gradus deals with the juxtaposition of melodic and rhythmic material within repeated cycles of 32 beats, and although it is highly structured on the one hand, it also sounds highly intuitive and unpredictable (to me anyway) on the other.
Year composed: 1968
Duration: 00:09:00
Ensemble type: Solo instrument, non-keyboard:Soprano Saxophone
Instrumentation: 1 Soprano Saxophone
Instrumentation notes: Soprano saxophone