Terpsichoral by Thomas Schuttenhelm www.thomasschuttenhelm.com Sheet Music for Woodwind Ensemble at Sheet Music Direct

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The resonance of the saxophone quartet seems particularly suited to the 21st century because it skews allegiance to any (singular) particular style and excels where conditions collapse; gaining significance through synthesis. The title Terpsichoral is itself a conflation of the name Terpsichore, who was one of the muses recognized by the ancient Romans, and a goddess of dance (her mother was Memory), and choral: a genre that seems appropriately applied to an ensemble that is divided according to its soprano, alto, tenor and bass "voices". The saxophones association with jazz (itself closely aligned with dance) need hardly be avoided, and yet it is a collective that transcends the most traditional of ensembles: the string quartet. The ballet Le Sacre du Printemps was perhaps the most devastating combination of the ancient and the modern, and its renewal of ritual as a performance gives a primal and primary influence on Terpsichoral. Together with Stravinskys Symphonies of Wind Instruments, the two compositions provide Terpsichoral with the necessary conceptual components: the echo of an ancient ritual against the austerity of modern absolutism. The combination of these two elements have been attempted many times before, and in a variety of genres (poetry, novels, sculpture and the canvas), but this particular soundscape acknowledges the severities of our contemporary condition while attempting to place it in a tradition that seeks always to out-sound it.

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