Threnodies and Anthems
Bruce Lazarus
About this work:
brucelazarus2k@yahoo.com
John Ingram, tenor saxophone and bagpipes
Threnodies (expressions of grief) and Anthems (affirmations), scored for tenor saxophone and bagpipes, was inspired by the HIV-AIDS deaths of my parents and friends. During the funerals, and in private moments afterwards, I searched for a soulful yet resolute voice encouraging steadiness of heart and mind. This voice exists in the craggy, elemental power of the bagpipe. Soon I had developed a storyline – an almost operatic scenario - where the agile, fluid tenor saxophone expresses my mourning in a series of threnodies, and the steadfast bagpipe reponds to each threnody with a life-affirming anthem. The dialogue between saxophone/threnody and bagpipe/anthem build toward an awareness that sees without judgement. By the end of the third cycle, the saxophone is able – haltingly – to reach an ode of equanimity that the bagpipe picks up and fearlessly expands.
Putting aside the unhappy circumstances which sparked it, Threnodies and Anthems was great fun to compose, especially the bagpipe anthems. The instrument’s technical limitations are severe, but it was clear from the start that the bagpipe’s limitations are also its strengths. Like an elder sage, its words are few, but each is packed with explosive power. The instrument possesses only nine fingered notes, plus an unchangable drone note pitched somwhere between A and Bb. Immediately repeated notes are an impossibility (bagpipe cannot play the beginning of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"). The pipe is capable of a single dynamic (fortissimo, or very loud) and a single articulation (legato, or smooth). However, a whole vocabulary of traditional ornamentation is available which expands the pipe’s versatility and provides its unique expression. I took care to use only these traditional ornaments.
Version: bagpipes and tenor saxophone
Year composed: 1994
Duration: 00:10:30
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 2-5 players
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation notes: Threnodies and Anthems, an AIDS memorial piece, is scored for bagpipe and tenor saxophone. The two winds perform antiphonal calls (saxophone) and responses (bagpipe), and never play at the same time.