Brian Kachur

SAX 140

Dr. Timothy McAllister

March 16, 2018

Augusta Read Thomas Masterclass

The masterclass given by Augusta Read Thomas this past Tuesday was insightful and

inspiring from a musical as well as compositional standpoint. Though entering this studio class I

had never heard of Ms. Thomas, I was very grateful to have the chance to meet her and hear

some of her philosophies on composition, musical collaboration and her path as an artist. I was

especially interested in her personal methods of orchestration in her compositions and in hearing

about her inspirations behind the compositions performed in the masterclass. I intend to research

more about her works and discover some great new music.

The first piece by Ms. Thomas that was presented was ​Chant ​for Alto Saxophone and

Piano. The piece was originally written for cello piano and was written in 1990. An arrangement

was commissioned by Fred Hemke for alto saxophone and piano. The sounds of the piece, in the

composer’s mind, were influenced somewhat by the sounds of French composer Olivier

Messiaen. A lyrical melody is sung in the saxophone part, accompanied by cluster chords in the

piano accompaniment. This melody develops, and the motifs are augmented into octave unison

bebop-jazz style passages. The driving force of the piece is this battle between the sustained

lyrical phrases against the lighter, more active jazz lines, which are extensions of each other.

One interesting note about the piece is that there is one single slap tongue note which is

supposed to emulate a ringing pizzicato from the original version for cello. Hemke wanted to
keep the slap tongue in the arrangement, even though Ms. Thomas did not want it left in. Ms.

Thomas defines her style as a pure combination of jazz and classical music, with much of her

works being influenced titularly by nature and spirituality. This work encompasses all of her

most forefront qualities as a composer and person, and this work is one that definitely needs to

be performed more.

The second and final work by Ms. Thomas performed in the masterclass was ​Squeeze​ for

saxophone quartet. The piece uses two soprano saxophones, as well as alto and tenor. Volta

Quartet, which performed the work, positioned all facing the audience in a straight line rather

than in a traditional arc shape. The piece includes an optional 12-15 second improvised alto

saxophone cadenza that must use material from the rest of the piece. It was interesting in the

masterclass to hear two performances, one with and one without this cadenza.

Ms. Thomas stated that because she spends so much time crafting and sculpting her

works to perfection, she feels uncomfortable putting in a cadenza telling the performer to “play

whatever they want”, so she gave strict guidelines about what to use in the cadenza while still

allowing it to be improvised. Ms. Thomas also stated that the inspiration for this piece was

simply backed by a capricious sense of joy and optimism, which I think is clearly portrayed by

its wacky, fun style and quirky passages. This work is a perfect short opener for any quartet or

chamber recital and definitely needs to be performed more as well.

Overall, I enjoyed learning a lot about the saxophone works of Augusta Read Thomas. I

hope to learn some of her saxophone repertoire in the future as a soloist or as a quartet player,

and look forward to future composer masterclasses.