Self Portrait for Saxophone Quartet 

From the program notes:
Self Portrait is aptly named in two ways. The first is that the different movements all focus on specific character traits about myself that I’ve chosen to highlight, mostly humorously. I’ve often been called brash and arrogant, something I doubt many will contest too much, and I enjoy the act of talking in circles - being purposely confusing when in a conversation, and typically never making much progress. The final movement, Fragments, is disjointed and confusing, two terms I’ve often heard to describe my thought process, before it coalesces into a final restatement of important moments from throughout the quartet.
The secondary nature of the title comes through in the actual music itself. For hundreds of years now, composers have used different techniques to input their own names into the music. You may be familiar with the Bach motif, B-flat A C B natural. I have used different techniques to translate my name into different musical themes and rhythms, which makes up the majority of the melodic and harmonic content in this quartet.
Premiered 4-14-24, Dudley Birder Hall, St. Norbert College
Ellie Brielmaier, Soprano Saxophone
Maddy Beck, Alto Saxophone
Mollie Shaver, Tenor Saxophone
Austin Kobylarczyk, Baritone Saxophone

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