| Programme notes: | The idea for this piece came to me after a visit to see Marco, the new grandchild of a friend of mine, Antonia Ruano, in Spain. We were sat outside under my friend's immense 200 year old pine tree and I was cradling the baby, when I noticed a vivid, almost phosphorescent green mantis on the table in front of us. I watched its erratic gait across the top of the table intermittently, entranced by its carefully persistent, almost thoughtful assessment of the terrain ahead of it. Then for what seemed like ages and after all its curious rocking efforts, it fell off the end.
© Simon Holt, 2009 |
| Performance notes: | Mantis was originally written for viola, and first performed on 16th February 2009 by Roger Chase, at the Stradivari Music and Arts Center, Chicago. The piece was arranged for tenor saxophone in 2015, and first performed on 12th July 2015 by Niels Bijl at La Cité de la Musique et de la Danse, Strasbourg, as part of SaxOpen ? World Saxophone Congress & Festival. |
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