"Three Reflections"

This piece is something of a big deal for me. It's the first time I've ever been commissioned by a fellow oboist (and her saxophone friend and colleague) to write a work for them!

This meant that I was able to don one hat (that of the composer) and just listen to the music. Kinda surreal, in a way.

Composing this piece was a lot of fun and presented me with an opportunity to explore the tonal similarities and differences between the oboe and the saxophone. I thought a motif that could aid in that exploration was the idea of musically depicting images reflecting off of various substances. So, the reflections depicted in this work are not emotional or metaphysical but are actually very literal.

The first movement, "Water," suggests a person looking into a reflecting pool or puddle and seeing themselves in the ripples. A light rain starts and the falling drops disturb the reflection, increasing in intensity, until the shower passes.

The slow second movement, "Mirror," depicts a person looking at themselves in a mirror and perhaps beginning to lose themselves in the notion that maybe the real world is the one on the "other side" of the glass.

"Window," the final movement, creates a scene of a person walking down a city street and seeing their reflection in various windows they pass. Sometimes the reflection is very clear and, at other times, it's very faint or distorted in some way.

Three Reflections received its World Premiere on September 25th, 2022 at Pensacola ComposerFest XVII. The performers were the work's commissioners, Amy Selkirk and Chris Sacco

Scores

Three Reflections (PDF file) - $10.00

Select Instrumentation Below

Oboe and Alto Sax $10.00 USD Oboe and English horn $10.00 USD Soprano Sax and Alto Sax $10.00 USD Two Bb Clarinets $10.00 USD