Continuum
The Apollo Saxophone Quartet have released an album called ‘Continuum’ on 1st May. The new disk features recordings of their most recent commissions, including ‘In the Fragrant Air’ by Grace-Evangeline Mason. The piece was commissioned by Bill Connor on behalf of the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles, for the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, who also features on the disk.
In the Fragrant Air
‘In The Fragrant Air’ was written in 2022 inspired by the opening lines of the poem ‘Calm is the fragrant air’ by William Wordsworth (1770-1850). The piece begins with gentle, cascading figures suggestive of the fragrant air and falling dews described in the first lines of the poem. This is followed by more rhythmic passages with fuller, contrasting textures as ‘one by one’ you look up to the stars to ‘mark them twinkling out with silvery light’ as the music opens out into repetitive, shimmering instances before returning to the atmospheric airs from which the material originates. ©G.E.M.2022
Photo: Charlotte Wellings
