Bobby Ge - Continuity Errors, concertino for alto saxophone and band [Score Follow] 

Score and performance materials available from murphymusicpress.com.
Commissioned by the United States Navy Band
Completed Oct. 17, 2023
Premiered at George Mason University Jan. 16, 2024 by Jonathan Yanik and the U.S. Navy Band
As a child, I used to obsessively rewatch my favorite movies. Seeing the same sequences over and over, I would begin to notice little mistakes across cuts - misplaced items, inexplicable outfit changes, loose strands of hair - and I started to wonder how actors managed to keep their characters consistent if they could barely maintain their physical appearances. I soon realized that many actors, quite simply, did not.
Continuity Errors, true to its name, celebrates the unexpected surrealism of inconsistency. The piece is filled with sudden, frenetic shifts in tone, register, and key, with these drop-of-a-dime changes kicked off by the clapboard-like ‘crack!’ of a whip. The solo saxophone is the star of the show, eager to shine but occasionally out of step with the whip’s cues. The music frequently invokes the stylings of grand, cinematic soundscapes, even as the soloist obsessively brings the music back toward a more mischievous, off-kilter dance. As the piece builds towards its relentless climax, it cycles again and again through the soloist’s dance, as though trying to rehearse it again and again. The piece ends explosively with a series of wild jump cuts, culminating in a final exhausted smack of the whip.
Many thanks to Jonathan Yanik and the amazing musicians of the U.S. Navy Band for realizing this piece.