Bridges, Breaks, and Bells (2016)

Alto sax, piano (three movements, c. 10 min)

When I first began work on “Bridges, Breaks, and Bells” in spring of 2016, I was very excited about exploring the dialogue between rhythmic virtuosity and lyrical expressiveness that Duality was and is so good at. When I heard that Duality’s first pianist, Kristin Elgersma, had lost her 16-month-old son, Inde, that July to a congenital heart defect, I was devastated and could not begin to fathom what Kristin and her husband were going through. I wasn’t sure that I would continue writing this piece, but sometime in the fall, the momentum of the piece took on a life of its own, and having only just barely started, I finished all three movements in a matter of days.

Using angular, and unstable rhythmic figures, and a terse harmonic language as a point of departure, the first and third movements explore tension and motion, while the second gives way to a rhapsodic melody line in the saxophone that seems to be navigating its way through an unstable harmonic context.

Bridges, Breaks, and Bells is dedicated to Inde Elgersma, 2015–2016.