Reblogged from AVIDduoMusic!

As we prepare for our upcoming performances in the Czech Republic later this month, we thought it would be nice to post about the new pieces which were written for us this season! All of these pieces are on our program in Czech, and will be recorded in the upcoming months. Both the music and recordings will be available later this fall to anyone else wishing to perform some of this great duet music for the flute and saxophone! 

Synergy (2011)
Chris Reza, NY

Synergy, a work written for AVIDduo, is about the formation of a single being through the combining of two separate entities. This new entity has an effect that is greater than the two individual parts. While one can say this is representative of all collaborative musical works, and of all reality, this piece was explicitly written with this concept in mind.  Mr. Reza is honored to have had Brittany Primavera and Jeffery Kyle Hutchins premiere Synergy at the 35th Navy Band Symposium at George Mason University, as well as perform it internationally.

Leonardo’s Sketchbook (2011)
Kirk O’Riordan, PA
I. quasi-cadenza; insistent, with energy
II. misterioso; very freely
III. legatissimo, senza espressione
IV. simplice ma ritmico, legatissimo sempre
V. cadenza; impulsive
VI. freely; with energy
VII. slowly; senza espressione

Leonardo’s Sketchbook was commissioned by the Phi Tau Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon at the University of North Texas for AVIDduo: Brittany Primavera, flute; Jeffery Kyle Hutchins, saxophone.
Leonardo’s Sketchbook plays on the idea of an inventor writing down ideas for inventions in a notebook.  The “inventions” are similar to Bach’s Inventions…two part works that are highly imitative and employ on occasion some fancy contrapuntal tricks, like mirror canons, etc.  Like some of the inventor’s ideas, some are more developed than others… some elaborate, some very simple.  They are performed without pause.

Falling to the Sea (2012)
John Richard, MI

As I was composing Falling to the Sea and thinking about the primary melodic gesture of the piece, I imagined a small mountain stream twisting among the rocks and dropping from the cliffs as it flowed towards the ocean.  It’s not that the music I wrote evokes alpine meadows and waterfalls, but the image I had of flowing and falling water was analogous to the floating and descending gestures that shape the piece.  These gestures appear in several forms throughout the music.  In the beginning, the saxophone’s long, floating tones create a sense of motionlessness (interrupted by the flute’s short bursts) before the melodic line begins to descend in pitch and accelerate, the sax eventually joining in with the flute’s twisting chromatic figures.  In another instance, the flute and sax play high, sustained pitches that descend chromatically together as they accelerate.  And this is the gesture—falling and picking up speed—that is elaborated and developed throughout the piece and which forms the main structural material of the work.  There is another important gesture found in the fast, chromatic, twisting fragments that begin and end the composition.  They develop in a different manner than the “falling” gesture, transformed in the middle section of the piece into slow, winding, melodies.  Falling to the Sea was written for the AVIDduo, Brittany Primavera, flute and Jeffery Kyle Hutchins, saxophone.

Interactions (2012)
Lenka Štůralová, CZ

The piece Interactions was composed in autumn 2011 in Ostrava, Czech Republic for AVIDduo.  The main body of the piece is focused on constant interactions between two elements, represented by the flute and the saxophone, whose coexistence is developing in a variety of ways which continuously change, but ultimately lead to an agreeable ending.

Avocado at Midnight (2011)
Jeffery Kyle Hutchins, MN

Composed for AVIDduo, Avocado at Midnight is the first movement of a larger work titled Fruit Pieces, which may be performed together or separately. Each short movement is based on an ear-worm idea that somehow got stuck in my head and found it’s way to paper. The other movements Tangerine at Twilight and Pineapple at Noon, like the first movement, more or less have nothing to do with fruit or time, except that they are short and sweet. And probably a little fruity.   

As my first real blog post on here, I thought I would write about my recent trip to Washington, D.C. to perform at the Navy Band Saxophone Symposium! 

My lovely AVIDduo counterpart Brittany Primavera and I met in D.C. on Thursday afternoon. After arriving at the airport at roughly the same time, we went to pick up our rental car. Thanks to Brittany's thorough inspection of the cars cup holders, and a thick southern accent, she was able to woo the rental guy into a "luxury" upgrade.  I was definitely sporting a brand new VW Beetle all weekend. 

I would not own for myself, but it was super fun driving around for the weekend. Especially since it was a rental. You can treat them like a toy, right?

We stayed with my MPE sister Jackie Geldert and her husband Dan, both UNT alumni. It was a great time! I had possibly the best tofu of my life, found 3 bottles of wine for $12 (deal!), and met a golden retriever that I taught how to dance on two legs. I am a dog whisperer.  

 Friday morning/afternoon we gave a little AVIDduo performance at Robinson Secondary School where Jackie teaches. The kids got a preview performance of our Navy Band program followed by a little question and answer. Then we sat in and played with them! 

Friday evening, I had my solo recital followed by a great concert by the Navy Band. All the performances were pretty good, but Jonathan Yanik killed it on the Saint-Saens Capriccioso. He knows how to play the saxophone.

Saturday morning was our duo performance. We premiered a new piece that fellow UNT alumni Chris Reza wrote for us titled Synergy. It is a fantastic piece with quite a catchy little melody. The performance went well, and we look forward to several more performances of this piece we have planned for later this semester!  

There is a sneak peak recording Brittany and I made before the premier on SoundCloud. Here.
We will have a full recording up on our website later this semester!

That evening we ate some more amazing food that Victoria, VA had to offer. A great place called Rustico. Their pizza was super delicious and their truffle french fries only continues to prove to me that adding truffle oil to anything instantly makes it better. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the food or this place as both were very attractive.

Sunday afternoon I returned to a much colder Minneapolis after 11 hours of traveling. Due to some delays in Milwaukee, I had the great pleasure of sitting around in the airport all evening. That was not near as exciting as the pilot needing two tries to land the plane (not kidding). Thanks AirTran!