Ann Cleare

for solo alto saxophone 

This piece has a lot to do with eyes. The saxophone should be thought of as a dragonfly with eyes so big they cover almost its entire head, giving it a helmeted appearance and a full 360-degree field of vision. These eyes are made up of 30,000 visual units called ommatidia, each one containing a lens and a series of light-sensitive cells. It also has three smaller eyes named ocelli, which can detect movement faster than the huge compound eyes can. These ocelli quickly send visual information to the dragonfly’s motor centers, allowing it to react in a fraction of a second. Although a tiny being, its entire body is covered in powerful light detecting cells, which gradually reveal more and more powerful eyes as the piece unfolds.

Luna (the eye that opens the other eye) is composed of solo material taken from the square of yellow light that is your window for saxophone, piano, percussion, and electric guitar, which was written for Ensemble Nikel in 2013/14.

Listen to the piece, performed by Patrick Stadler:

Look at an excerpt and purchase the score from PSNY: https://www.eamdc.com/psny/composers/ann-cleare/works/luna-the-eye-that-opens-the-other-eye/