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Date Composed: January, 2022

Instrumentation: Bass Clarinet and Bari Sax

Duration: Approx. 7:50

Program Notes (written by Theresa Martin)

I am always vigilant, listening and looking for title inspirations for my pieces.  This title came to me when my family and I were watching robot-fighting tournaments on TV. There was a robot named Axe Backwards. Knowing my next commission was to write a piece for Bass Clarinet and Bari Saxophone, I created my own spin on the title.

I had a lot of fun writing things that were backwards in this piece. To begin the writing process, some of my original material mimics rhythmic and gestural “backwards” quotations from the first movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. I also use some rhythmic and melodic palindromes throughout the piece—you may not hear them but have fun listening for them! Musically, you will hear many contrasting sections, from fast, dark, and gnarly to chant-like, sweet, and high; heavy, muddy passages to light and spritely music; fanfare-like sections to musical cogs spinning and pondering.

The overall concept of the piece is that in life, sometimes things can just seem backwards. When you try to solve things yourself, you often end up frustrated and overwhelmed—like you’re not getting anywhere. But if you trust and have faith, things will soon start to align and start moving like an efficient machine.

bAss AcKwards was commissioned by a Consortium led by Andrew Hudson and Brandyn Taylor and funded in part by generous grants from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Members of the consortium include:

Taiki Azuma

Taylor Barlow

Stefanie Gardner

Joe Girard

John Griffin

Andy Hudson

Lisa Kachouee

Lisa Oberlander

Aileen Razey

Robert Spring

Steve Stusek

Anthony Taylor

Brandyn Taylor

Roddy Terrell

Alan Theisen

Anne Watson

Joanna McCoskey Wiltshire

Kristen Zelenak