Highlights from two collaborative projects that are captured on cd! Poet Lemn Sissay joined forces with the ASQ in 1998 when he and the ASQ were commissioned by the ISCM World Music Days Festival to create a new work for saxophones and poet. The ASQ also composed the music for a one-hour commission from Phoenix Arts, that accompanies black and white films. Music from this project has been especially arranged for this 'Words & Pictures' CD. Recorded in July 1998, Terra Incognita, Bath Recorded and edited by David Lord Mixed and produced by Apollo Saxophone Quartet Tim Redpath - soprano saxophone Rob Buckland - alto saxophone Andy Scott - tenor saxophone Will Gregory - baritone saxophone Lemn Sissay - poet The award winning Apollo Saxophone Quartet which has been at the forefront of contemporary classical ensembles in the UK for the past 21 years. During this time they have commissioned over 100 pieces, many of which have become standard repertoire for the genre. May Day : The notion of Sring could be taken in any number of ways, but the chosen one came as a surprise. Spring - spring cleaning - a plane crash!!! The poem itself is very close to Lemn's heart, his father having died in a plane crash before he ever had the chance to get to know him. Scored for four soprano saxophones, there is a certain irony between the biting, deep images of the poem and the inherently light texture of the higher pitched saxophones. The images of cobwebs on the ceilings and dust under the carpets will never seem the same again - be warned! (Tim Redpath) Lost Bronze : I associate autumn with melancholy feelings. Bhuddists believe melancholia to be very beautiful because it represents our most attuned perception of the world : ie. utterly un-self-deluding. Lemn has provided words that explain the melancholy : A woman whose eyes are opened. It is astonishing to me how perfectly these words reflect my feelings behind the music. (Will Gregory) My Mountain Top : Inspired by Summer, more specifically lying outside in the sun, closing your eyes and reaching a levl of deep relaxation. A crackle throughout the piece represents the slow burning of skin and four alto saxophones transport us into a state of semi-consciousness. Lemn's magical words then become our thoughts in this seemingly never ending meditative state. (Andy Scott) Hold Still : The score to Hold Still was written to follow the mood of Lemn's haunting poem, using slowly evolving melodic and rhytmic fragments to create a sense of inevitability, of the relentless approach of the storm, and the sense of both foreboding and excitement that one feels as a storm builds. (Rob Buckland) At Land A Vision : The mother of the US Avante Garde, Maya Deren completed her film At Land in 1944. The complex ideas and form presented an interesting challenge for composition. Within the fifteen minutes running time we are thrust into a dreamlike paranoia - exploring intricate ideas about consciousness, sexuality and individual identity. At Land - A Vision, is a condensed version of the film score, highlighting the almost schizophrenic nature of the film, each section conveying the diversity of it's moods. (Tim Redpath) Birth Of A Big Gun : From a class known as industrials this film depicts the production of a huge marine cannon, from the smelting of ingots, steam hammering into shape, and finally the testing in the field. Filmed at the peak of the industrial age, the pride and swagger behind the 1912 documentary becomes something more than sinister in our time. The music inevitably runs contrary to the film. The city sized foundary is expressed in minimalist style, and generally speaking, the bigger the machine, the smaller the music. (Will Gregory) His Phantom Sweetheart : His Phantom Sweetheart folows the adventures of Mr Courtney and his chums. From a boisterous bout a laddish banter in a bar, the entourage goes to the theatre where Mr Courtney is waylaid and subsequently falls asleep in the theatre foyer. The following dream sees Mr Courtney flirting with a young lady during the show and escorting her home. The couple kiss during a bumpy taxi ride to her house, and eventually find their way to her bedroom. Mr Courtney is alarmed to see a picture of the lady's husband, whom, she reliably informs him, is in an asylum. This is untrue, and the crazed husband appears, finding his wife with another man, and kills her. The husband then turns on Mr Courtney, cue the end of thedream and the film. Excerpts from the score have been adapted into four short movements i) Setting the Scene, ii) Car Journey, iii) Flirting iv) Murder (Andy Scott) The New York Hat : Based on two fragments from the score, this adaptation starts with the music tha accompanies the moments of sadness felt by Mary Pickford at the hands of the over bearing, tyrannical father, and unfolds into the driving vamp that accompanies the mounting excitement and scandel caused by Mary's minister-guardian anonymously giving her an expensive hat. (Rob Buckland) Mermaid : The moment of inspiration that begins the creative process is an indefinable spark, a fleeting thought, that often cannot be explained, or put into words. It is even rare for that moment to happen when a tape is rolling. During the recording of this CD, just such a moment was captured between takes, and it is here in its entirety, as it happened - you can even hear Lemn grabbing a pen and writing it down before it deissapears! Lemn has since developed this gem of inspiration into a poem in it's own right.