"Leidenschaft" for Solo Soprano Saxophone

Michael Keeler - Soprano Saxophone
"Leidenschaft" is a short, technically virtuosic work for solo soprano saxophone composed in late 2021, commissioned by and dedicated to Michael Keeler. The title of the work, translated from German, means “passion”. More specifically though, it can be translated as “the ability to endure” (-schaft) “suffering” (leiden-). In fact, many Western languages, in their respective words for “passion,” etymologically tie back to this common relationship between “suffering” and “passion”. Within this music, I sought to highlight this idea of “passion” relating to “suffering” through the rapid juxtaposition and oscillation between several, constantly morphing musical textures. Via this struggle against one another, a composite texture emerges, bursting at the seams with a passionate energy demanded by the highly technical music.
More to this, the idea of “passion” at the heart of this piece also refers to the performer. In this work, various complex gestures occur at a consistent tempo; though I expect some standard of accuracy, I encourage the performer to put their own voice into this work, through numerous, microscopic artistic decisions that work to differentiate one performer from another. In other words, I don’t expect every performance of this work to perfectly nail each note and rhythm, but I expect the final sonic outcome to be a valiant, zealous struggle for such precision on behalf of said performer.

[@zangsax]

Michael Keeler Thank You for showing us what is possible-wow!

[@Pricebreanna9]

I am your biggest fan, please notice me!!! ❤️❤️😭😭

[@jzonda415]

Noticed ❤❤❤

[@AriannaCunningham]

That's quite a composition, and a great performance to the Saxophonist! How's it possible to play microtones on an instrument and write them?

[@jzonda415]

For saxophone, microtones can be played with specific, alternative fingerings (coupled with voicing manipulations). And thank you!