Accent on Excellence
The Lotus Saxophone Quartet strives to provide high quality performances to their audiences. With a wide range of musical diversity, Lotus incorporates traditional and contemporary mediums into their repertoire in hopes to further saxophone literature.
Sunburnt - Takuma Itoh
Takuma Itoh spent his early childhood in Japan before moving to Northern California where he grew up. His music has been described as "brashly youthful and fresh" (New York Times). Featured amongst one of "100 Composers Under 40" on NPR Music and WQXR, he has been the recipient of such awards and commissions as: the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Music Alive: New Partnerships grant with the Tucson Symphony, the Barlow Endowment, and many more.
This highly energetic composition brings a fresh, new take to chamber music as Itoh draws listeners in and keeps the audience on their toes through exhilarating melodic lines and groovy rhythms.
Memory - Marcelo Zarvos
Performed live at LSQ’s spring 2022 recital.
Marcelo Zarvos is a Brazilian-born musician, who began as a student of classical music, but now works primarily in jazz and film scoring. Zarvos’ recent work includes the scores for Golden Globe-winning The Affair recent work includes the scores for Golden Globe-winning The Affair and Ray Donovan as well as the Oscar nominated film Fences. Originally written for the ETHEL string quartet, Memory was first performed on saxophones by the Kenari Quartet. Throughout the work, Zarvos makes contrasts between minimalism and energetic folk songs by utilizingdance rhythms and interweaving textures. — Note by the Aruna Quartet
String Quartet No.12 in F "American" Op.96 by Antonin Dvorak
Movement I: Allegro Ma non troppo
Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) wrote his Op. 96 String Quartet in June of 1893, while he and his family were on vacation in the Czech community of Spillville, Iowa. Dvorak was in the U.S. as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. The first work he wrote in Spillville was the “New World” Symphony, where he used elements from Native American and African-American melodies from folk songs. In the case of the “American” Quartet, Dvorak said that he was sending a ‘musical postcard’ to his native land, including “impressions and greetings from the New World.” In this way, Dvorak was truly “inspired by America.” - Cypress String Quartet
Andante - Eugene Bozza
Andante from ‘Andante et Scherzo’ by Eugene Bozza
Andante et Scherzo for saxophone quartet was composed in 1938 and was written for Marcel Mule’s quartet. The music clearly follows the Impressionist spirit of French music at the turn of the century. The Andante flows in gently rocking colours, the Scherzo swirls away in lively fashion; it is carefree performance music in the best sense of the word – entirely in the spirit of those representatives of Bozza’s own generation in France (from Poulenc to Françaix) who continued to avail themselves particularly consistently of tonal means. - Mobilis Saxophone Quartet
Scherzo - Eugene Bozza
Scherzo from ‘Andante et Scherzo’ by Eugene Bozza.
Andante et Scherzo for saxophone quartet was composed in 1938 and was written for Marcel Mule’s quartet. The music clearly follows the Impressionist spirit of French music at the turn of the century. The Andante flows in gently rocking colours, the Scherzo swirls away in lively fashion; it is carefree performance music in the best sense of the word – entirely in the spirit of those representatives of Bozza’s own generation in France (from Poulenc to Françaix) who continued to avail themselves particularly consistently of tonal means. - Mobilis Saxophone Quartet
They Might Be Gods - John Leszczynski
Paired with a companion poem by Claire Ensley, this piece takes on multidimensional forms of musical expression through elements such as harsh sonorities, hocketed rhythms, and extended techniques for the saxophone.
Awake.
A rustle, a snap
Footsteps and shadows and
Eyes
Seeing, unseen.
Pursuit.
Chasing or chased,
It's unclear. Running
Just run
Run
Run. Until
Tripping, trapped.
Your quest, sir?
Yes, a quest.
A quest and a map and a bear.
A dancing bear?
Twirls, too delicately
Faster. Faster, then fading.
Gone.
Falling.
Falling, sveltely.
Look-Raindrops!
Tiny gleaming globes
Falling too
Falling, faster
The ground-but no collision.
And light.
Asleep?
Light-Somewhere far?
No.
Watching lanterns
Through a glass darkly.
And seen face to face
They might be gods
Sarajevo - Guillermo Lago
Sarajevo from ‘Cuidades’ by Guillermo Lago. Performed live at the Art Worth festival.
‘Ciudades’ (Cities) is a series of musical sketches of cities that have a special meaning to Guillermo Lago. It is a work in progress and Lago adds new sketches every now and then. The various city portraits can be performed as a suite or as stand-alone pieces: when played as a suite the order of the movements can be decided freely by the performing quartet.
‘Sarajevo’ (Bosnia and Herzegovina) is dedicated to Lago’s many friends in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the nineties of the last century the town was hit by a cruel civil war. In the beginning of this millennium Lago was invited to help re-establishing a saxophone class at the Sarajevo Academy of Music, and together with ‘Musicians Without Borders’ and his friend Adnan Cico he founded the ‘Winds of Change’, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first wind ensemble. A group of young musicians, each of them affected by the country’s recent history. — Note by the composer