Output details

Catching Sunlight

Research content/process:

The Catching Sunlight project started as a commission by the Lunar Saxophone Quartet for a work for saxophone quartet and piano, but as the process of composition developed two desiderata emerged: first, the inclusion of bass and drums, and second the use of a further melody instrument (Neil Yates’ trumpet) both as a complement to, and an oppositional sound to the saxophone ensemble. The work is conceived as an integral whole, designed to be heard in the order in which the tracks are recorded; some – ‘Under the Canopy’ and ‘A Shady Mantle’ for example – would not work as stand-alone compositions. The titles of the eleven works are lines from the poem ‘Stalking the Vision’ by Julie Tippetts (who guested on Stapleton’s earlier The House Always Wins), and this guarantees one level of coherence in the overall work. Harmonically, Stapleton explores shapes, voicings and intervals rather than more conventional chordal configurations. The project’s exploration of the tensions between the saxophone ensemble and the rest of the group results in a largely textural role for the saxophones, and one in which there is relatively little solo or improvisatory work; paradoxically it is the keyboard and the (added) trumpet that carry most of the improvisatory and solo weight in the project. In general, the pieces are structured strictly with relatively few open-ended sections for improvisation, which in any case complement the notated parts for the saxophone quartet or simply add colour to the texture.