werner durand: hemispheres

Going back to his early musical inspirations in the early '70s, Werner Durand was fascinated with the multiple saxophone sounds coming from Terry Riley's "Poppy Nogood" and "Happy Ending," Dickie Landry's "Fifteen Saxophones" and Ariel Kalma's "Reternelle." His participation in the Parisian saxophone ensemble Urban Sax in 1976/1977 became a starting point for his own musical endeavors. The two saxophone pieces presented here were composed and recorded roughly 10 years apart and document his move from free microtonality towards just intonation, to which he was turned onto as a member of Arnold Dreyblatt & the Orchestra of Excited Strings from 1990 to 1997. The two hemispheres represent the two parts of the brain, associated with the intuitive (right) and rational (left) part. "Right Hemisphere" for soprano sax was composed in 1990 for a festival in Berlin, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the invention of the saxophone. The main idea for this piece was to make one forget what instrument one is listening to as well as to feature various unorthodox techniques like loose embouchure, false fingerings, or circular breathing, and a free microtonality. It was inspired by certain composers of microtonal music like Giacinto Scelsi, Phill Niblock, Lois V. Vierk, and Mary Jane Leach. The original version of "Left Hemisphere" was developed between 1995 and 2000. Dreaming of a certain ratio and intervals during a summer holiday in England in 1995, the piece slowly evolved over the next years. This version was recorded in 2000. The piece uses just intervals derived from the third and seventh harmonics played over a sax drone. All music composed, performed, recorded, and mixed by Werner Durand.