Some time ago, in the last century, I was approached by ‘Saxology’, a young saxophone quartet looking for new and challenging pieces – and Three Picasso Portraits was the result.
I had long been fascinated by the work of Picasso, particularly those of the 1920 and 30s, and the way that his paintings seem to look at the same object from different directions simultaneously, and so I took three of his paintings as starting points for the movements: Harlequin, Weeping Woman, and The Three Dancers. Two are in the Tate Gallery and one in the National Gallery and can be seen here:
Harlequin
Weeping Woman
The Three Dancers
The period between the two World Wars, when these were painted, was an exciting and experimental period in the arts, and musically it was the time when a number of composers were developing new ways at looking at the musical basics and exploring the equality of all twelve notes of the chromatic scale, sometimes by using the ‘twelve-note row’ using a specific ordering of all twelve notes and sometimes by using ‘free atonality’ in which the music is organised motivically and with less reference to traditional harmonic constructs.
But, at the same time, a number of composers were excitedly responding to the characteristic sounds of jazz, an art-form with which of course the saxophone has long been associated.
So it seemed appropriate to pay some kind of tribute to these musical ideas in my pieces. I had used twelve-note rows before, and have done so sometimes since, though usually with a greater focus on the more traditional concept of tonality than on the ‘equality of all twelve notes’ concept from which atonality sprung. And the rhythms and harmonies of jazz are also part of my musical background.
It would be tedious to give too much detail, but I will say that all three pieces are based on the same set of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale in a certain order (which I chose) which is also used backwards and inverted, and that I have use this set of notes both horizontally, to create melody, and vertically, to create harmony. This is absolutely standard twelve-note procedure. What I enjoy about doing this is forcing this rather rigid-sounding musical approach by the way in which I place and juxtapose the notes and rhythms to create melody and harmony – the restrictions that the system can impose inspires me to be creative, just as the restrictions of traditional harmonic concepts inspired composers of the past to be creative. So, in some way or other, every note in these pieces reflects different aspects of this pattern of twelve notes in the same way, perhaps, as Picasso’s Cubist technique created art out of building-blocks, juxtaposed in different ways.
I hope this explanation doesn’t put you off, and that you will be able to enjoy the music! You can hear a performance (by the commissioners, Saxology,) with a scrolling score here.
The actual CD that this came from is still available too, with a fascinating range of saxophone quartet music by other composers. Details here
You can find details of how to purchase a score and set of parts here
Finally, this was the piece that perhaps helped to inspire my son Sam, (now in his early forties but aged 9 at the time that I wrote it) to take up the saxophone, have lessons with one of the quartet members, and become the professional saxophonist that he now is!