Instrumentation: saxophone quartet
Duration: 10 minutes
Year composed: 2014
Performers: Amit Dubester, Leo Stern, Clio Theodoridis, Alexandre Galvane
First performance: Mandatory piece for the final of SaxOpen Saxophone Quartet Competition, Strasbourg, July 7, 2015, France
Program note: Instants éphémères is an introspection of the saxophoneʼs production of sound. The sequence of notes constructed around the name Sarah (Eb-A-D-A-B) issues progressively from blowing into the instrument, like the wind whispering far away sounds.
The structure of the piece is entirely based on the Lucas sequence, named for a nineteenth century French mathematician. This sequence, just like the Fibonacci sequence, is closely tied to the golden ratio φ (phi). From a simple breath, the sound texture progressively becomes more opulent until the climax, where it then starts to crumble little by little, returning to the initial breath, like a calm after an extremely violent storm.
