Composer’s Note:

Stand! was composed at the request of Roberto Todini, Professor of Saxophone at the Conservatorio di Musica, Francesco Morlacchi, in Perugia Italy. I had the great pleasure of working with Prof. Todini and his students while leading a Study Abroad courses in Perugia for the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College in 2013 and 2014. Prof. Todini’s students performed my Saxophone Quartet, Funkifize, numerous times including at the Spoleto Music Festival. At that time, Prof. Todini suggested I write a quintet and Stand! is the result.

The clarinet version of the piece was suggested by Soren-Filip Brix Hansen, who performs with Den Kongelige Livgardes Musikkorpss. The first performances of the piece were by Guido Arbonelli and Natalia Benedetti and the Namaste Quintetto Clarinetto who gave performances of the piece in the US and in Italy.Stand! is in a single large movement, with numerous distinct sections, that evoke an evolving series of musical gestures. The opening is quite abstract, a gentler more lyrical section follows, and these lead eventually to a Blues-based section (the largest) that represents the central musical idea. However, in performance, the quintet is required to (quite literally) stand, and perform the piece.

The performers are required to stand because all of the gestures (abstract, lyrical, blues) have at their core a driving rhythmic impetus that should not be expressed sitting down. The players should feel the music in their entire bodies and look at each other when passing musical ideas back and forth. In a sense, all of this music is “dance” music that requires a clear rhythmic sense, regardless if the music is fast or slow, abstract or not.