Orangutang for Alto Saxophone and Bass Clarinet (2019 ~4 minutes)

Orangutang is built around an ostinato with the intention of building a rhythmic atmosphere. The piece has very little to do with the actual animal of an Orangutan, even though you are free to infer this after listening to the piece, but much more with the sound and the rhythm of the word, especially if you pronounce it in fashion fitting to how it is spelt in the title “O-rang-u-tang”. Notions of bright colors and the fresh tang of an orange fruit further relate to the title and the theme of the piece. The “Orangutang” is its own being and thus it should be played with its own playful joy. The piece features sections referring to broken tape records, which are stuck in place, repeating a tiny fragment over and over again. This effect is reflected in the 15/16 bars which cut the regular 4/4 bars short, imitating a record skip. The “cuts” also come from the movies I grew up with, by filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, who surprise the audience by cutting from scene to scene in unexpected moments. This style of “editing” gives their movies something fresh and timeless that I wanted to capture in this piece.

Growing up in Vienna, I studied tuba with the American Jon Sass who introduced me to the world of jazz and funk of artists such as Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. The pulsing rhythms of funk music inspired so much of this duet and are shaped through the “cutting” technique. Apart from my own father being American, moving to the States for my doctorate in composition was inspired by the desire to further explore jazz and funk music.