Site Overlay

Tourmaline

soprano saxophone and computer sound (2004)

Xelo Giner, saxophone

Tourmaline is available on Innova Recordings 662 (Alexandra Gardner, Luminoso)

details

Duration: 10 minutes
Premiere: February 16, 2004
4th International Festival of Saxophone Music, Riga, Latvia
Received 2007 Mention, Prix Ton Bruynel

purchase music

DIGITAL / PDF
Score + Audio file — $30

Performance materials will be sent via email within 1-3 business days.

program note

Tourmaline was written for saxophonists Xelo Giner and Carola Cuypers. Created in the studios of the IUA/Phonos Foundation in Barcelona, it is the sixth piece in a series of compositions for solo instruments with electronics. The crystal tourmaline often shows two or more colors, such as watermelon tourmaline, which has a red center surrounded by bright green. A small change in the complex makeup of the developing crystal will result in a completely different color scheme. According to legend, wearing the stone can lend permanence and stability to friendships and love relationships. In this composition, the saxophone and electronics are closely linked in a fast-paced, animated conversation. The electronic part takes on a definite personality unto itself as it weaves about, interrupting, and commenting on the saxophone part. Twisting and turning through a series of moods and situations, the many possibilities for interaction between the two instruments are revealed.

press

Alexandra Gardner’s Tourmaline surrounded the saxophonist Brian Sacawa’s graceful lines and flutters with bustling electronic counterpoint and ghostly echoes.

— Steve Smith, The New York Times

La compositora Alexandra Gardner, demostrando un auténtico y profundo conocimiento de los medios electrónicos, con Tourmaline plantea un verdadero contraste entre los dos medios sonoros que enmarca magníficamente dentro de una forma bien trabada, en que tiempo y sonido se amalgaman en un ágil discurso y unidad.

Revista Musica Catalana

Back to music page →