Through a Winter Landscape

(2001)

by Nicolas Scherzinger

Duration: 13 minutes

for soprano saxophone and harp

Above live performance is by Julia Nolan (saxophone) and Rita Constanzi (harp).

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Click here (Soprano Saxophone Part) to download a copy of the soprano saxophone part in PDF format.

Click here (Harp Part) to download a copy of the harp part in PDF format.

PRINTING NOTES: the advice would be to print the PDF parts above on 8.5x11 size or A4 size paper, then photocopy and enlarge onto larger sized paper (11x14 or something similar -- to make 11x14 simply cut 11x17 paper to size).

All PDF copies are made available for free, through the support of volunteer donations. The composer is very grateful for the goodwill and generosity that is expressed by any donation.

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MUSIC (SCORE and PARTS) - order a hardcopy

To order a hard copy of the music, please contact Nicolas Scherzinger directly (email below). A paypal option to order hard copies of music will be available soon (2012).

Send an email to Nicolas Scherzinger directly, with the title of the piece you would like to order.
email - nscherzi@gmail.com

NOTE: whether you download a copy of the score, or order a hardcopy, if you decide to perform the piece in public, please let me know about it via email, or even send me a program.
Thank you, Nicolas

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PROGRAM NOTE

When Julia Nolan approached me about writing her a piece for saxophone and harp, my immediate impulse was to compose a work that would evoke some aspect of my youth. I have always been interested in the mysterious and ambiguous in music, and I can think of nothing more mysterious than a winter in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia where I grew up. From spring through fall, the dry, semi-desert climate of the region attracts people from all over the world who seek adventure in one of the most naturally beautiful places on earth. By late November, gray and dark clouds fall deep into the valley and snow lightly covers the land. The lake on the valley floor takes on a haunting blue-gray color, and the valley seems devoid of life. The valley remains this way until late March or early April, when the clouds begin to lift and gray turns back into vivid colors and life slowly returns.

Through a Winter Landscape takes the listener through a musical sound world very similar to the visual one described above. The work begins with the beautiful sonorities typical of the harp and the soprano saxophone. Eventually, these wonderfully bright colors fade away into the darker characteristics of the two instruments. The piece remains in darkness for quite some time, with both instruments struggling toward a light they eventually reach in the last moments of the piece. The music remains highly lyrical throughout.
Although during the composition of this piece I used the imagery of the Okanagan Valley of my youth as an inspiration for the composing of the piece, it is my hope that, in its musical form, the work will penetrate beyond our concrete realities into other “realities”. As in all my work, I am attracted to the mysterious in music because of its ability to draw us closer to something that is inexpressible. In many ways, this work portrays in music a winter landscape that I remember from my youth that I am incapable of depicting in words.

Through a Winter Landscape was commissioned by Julia Nolan with help from a grant from the Canada Council. The work was premiered by Julia Nolan, saxophone, and Rita Constanzi, harp, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on January 13, 2002, and is dedicated to them with thanks and admiration.

Commissioned by Julia Nolan and the Canada Council.
Premiered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, January 13, 2002.
Julia Nolan, saxophone, Rita Costanzi, Harp.

Nicolas Scherzinger, Syracuse, NY, 2009