The Man in the Wind and the West Moon - for Alto Sax & Piano released on CD.
The Man in the Wind and the West Moon for alto sax and piano has been released on CD played by Michael Duke and David Howie.
Update - review from Sounds Like Sydney by Shamistha de Soysa
The Man in the Wind and the West Moon for alto saxophone and piano by Stephen McNeff from the United Kingdom, is described as a “fantasy in three continuous sections” inspired by the Dylan Thomas poem And death shall have no dominion, from which this line derives. Introspective, then playful and lyrical, it is eminently listenable and at 13 minutes it is the longest piece in the collection.
The Commonwealth consists of fifty-four countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific. With 2.4 billion people in the Commonwealth, what is it that ties so many together as members of this association? In 2018 through a generous grant from the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, HD Duo embarked on an ambitious cross-cultural project that focused upon composers of the Commonwealth. The ultimate aim of this venture is to commission, perform and record one composition from each of the countries represented. This initial project focuses on the collaboration with six premiere composers from six different Commonwealth countries. Each composer was commissioned to contribute a chamber work for saxophone and piano that was then workshopped, premiered, toured and recorded for this CD. The principal aims of this project are to enhance and strengthen links between countries of the Commonwealth, greatly increasing cultural awareness and understanding. Through the music on this recording listeners are invited to immerse in the incredible diversity of culture, enjoying points of common experience as focussed through the lens of chamber music.
The CD is available from Da Vinci Publishing https://davinci-edition.com/product/c00481/
Also on Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/albums/B09KD8KF3P
and Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/music-of-the-commonwealth-australia-uk-cyprus-malta/1592835443
Image from the world tour when The Man in the Wind and the West Moon was premiered
The Man in the Wind and the West Moon
This work was commissioned by Michael Duke and David Howie for their world tour in 2018 and was funded by the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. It is a fantasy in three continuous sections and takes its title from a line in an early Dylan Thomas’s poem, ‘And death shall have no dominion’. This is a lyrical poem on the subject of immortality in a three stanza structure echoed in the musical work. The music opens with a brooding, hesitant piano before melodic fragments from the saxophone lead on to a more established theme. A calmer section featuring piano introduces mid-range saxophone timbres. A short recap of earlier material introduces an agitato Part 2 where the piano and sax exchange ideas in a bouncy, almost sardonically jolly, spikey way. Part 3 is a calmer world which the piano introduces by weaving shifting harmonic textures (marked ‘gently rocking’), soon joined by the saxophone’s lyrical high register voice. This song-like idea is taken up by the piano and then the sax again before the music gradually begins to relax. There is one final lyrical moment from the saxophone before the registers darken and begin to fade. We end with a series of low, rich piano chords and echoes of earlier melodic fragments.
The score is published by Peters Edition. Score excerpt https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/the-man-in-the-wind-and-the-west-moon-sheet-music/213038.
A version is also available for cor anglais and piano