Saxophone and Electronics

TENNEY Saxony (25’)
TASSIE O Suns - O Grass of Graves world premiere (10’)
LAIDLOW Content (30’)
ZUCCHI/LAIDLOW Interfaces Improvisation (15’)

Praised for his “urgently visceral” playing (Tempo), London-based Canadian saxophonist David Zucchi performs a programme of innovative works for saxophone and live electronics. James Tenney’s groundbreaking ’Saxony’ (1978) sees a shimmering wall of sound built from tape delay and saxophones of every size, while Benjamin Tassie’s new work, ’O Suns - O Grass of Graves’, explores the fragile sound world of the saxophone’s delicately unstable multiphonics.

The second half showcases Zucchi’s recent collaborations with composer and creative technologist Robert Laidlow. ’Content’ translates the internet’s overwhelming abundance (memes, infinite-scroll feeds, push notifications) in a raucous concert work for saxophone and electronics, while ’Interfaces Improvisation’ sees Laidlow perform alongside Zucchi using his tactile new electronic instrument, a ‘stacco’, which uses live AI to melt timbres together and control live-processed sound.