Five of One, Half a Dozen of the Other…?

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CD available
Continuum Sax
Continuum Saxophone Quartet, CSAX01
Reed Music

score available from
Reed Music
program note
i. At Sixes and Sevens
ii. Möbius Strip
iii. Five of One, Half a Dozen of the Other…?
iv. Delayed Arrival (Flight 4753)

These miniatures for saxophone quartet explore aspects of rhythmic ambiguity inspired by visual illusions found in M.C. Escher’s prints. Each movement presents a different rhythmic challenge; At Sixes and Sevens, gradually reveals a pattern of 13 beats (6+7) – a modified Latin clave rhythm with irregular grouping that increasingly comes to seem regular. Möbius Strip loops a 5–note cell seamlessly around on itself like a glitchy figure of 8, suggesting infinity. The title miniature, Five of One, Half a Dozen of the Other…? explores the ratio 5:6. It fits together like a tessellated puzzle. In Delayed Arrival (Flight 4753) melodies of varied length shift in counterpoint to each other, before being drawn into a regular groove in common time. These pieces were written for Continuum Sax (James Nightingale, Margery Smith, Martin Kay and Jarrod Whitburn).

reviews
“Greenbaum’s piece is beautifully idiomatic”
Andrew Ford, 24 Hours, October 2002

“From the opening track it is obvious to hear the rhythmic accuracy and excellent intonation that can only come from a dedicated ensemble. Melbourne composer and lecturer Stuart Greenbaum’s four miniatures Five of One, Half a dozen of the other…? (dedicated to artist and mathematician M.C. Escher), capitalises on this accuracy with a work in mixed metres, inspired by the visual ambiguity of the artist’s work. There is particularly beautiful p soft staccato playing in the third movement.”
John Babbage, Australian Clarinet and Saxophone, September 2001