Randall Smith a choisi d'interpréter:

Randall Smith has chosen to perform:

Warren Gooch Romanza and Galop (1999) [saxophone alto solo / solo alto saxophone] (pub.: Southern Music)

Charles W. Smith Sonata No. 1 for Alto Saxophone and Piano (1983) Moderately fast and gracefully Very Slowly Moderately fast (pub.: Southern Music)

avec la collaboration de:

with the participation of:

Janet Bass Smith, piano

Smith received his undergraduate education at Southeast Missouri State University where he studied saxophone with David Green. As a student of Eugene Rousseau, he earned the Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in saxophone performance from Indiana University (I.U.). While at I.U. he was a full scholarship student, an Associate Instructor of Saxophone, a member of the Indiana Saxophone Quartet, and the winner of the Saxophone Concerto Competition. Dr. Smith has also studied saxophone with Kenneth Fischer and Larry Teal.

Dr. Smith is active as an adjudicator, clinician, and performer. He has given clinics and performances at conferences of the Missouri Bandmasters Association, the North American Saxophone Alliance, the National Association of Wind and Percussion Instructors, and the Society for Composers, Inc. He has performed throughout the Midwest, Puerto Rico, and Europe. As saxophone soloist he performed with the Truman State Wind Symphony at the 1994 and the 2000 Southwest Regional conference of the College Band Directors National Association and at the 1997 Missouri Music Educators Association conference. In 1994 and 1996 he was the featured soloist with the Missouri Ambassadors of Music Band, a select group of high school and college musicians who performed five concerts on a sixteen-day tour of Europe.

Janet Bass Smith holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Missouri--Kansas City, Conservatory of Music, and earned master's and bachelor's degrees in piano performance from the University of North Carolina--Greensboro and the University of Wyoming (summa cum laude), respectively. She has done advanced study at the Juilliard School of Music and the Eastman School of Music. She has been on the faculty of Salem College, the University of North Carolina--Greensboro, Livingstone College, and Southeast Missouri State University, and currently maintains an independent piano studio in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She is a church organist, an amateur cellist,
an avid caver, and a prize-winning oil painter and poet. In addition, she is a seasonal park ranger at Mammoth Cave National Park. She is a past-president of the Kentucky Music Teachers Association and co-editor of the KMTA journal, Kentucky Music Teacher. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi (National Scholastic Honorary) and Pi Kappa Lambda (National Music Scholastic Honorary), and has received numerous awards for scholarship and performance.

The title of this composition might raise some questions, and so it should. My intent was to produce a serious, expressive piece (the "Romanza"), and pair it with a "no-holds-barred" romp. The problem of juxtaposing musical elements from two such dissimilar sources proved to be a great deal of fun for me, and I hope this shows through in the music. A few intervallic motives generate most of the musical content of the piece at various levels, and these motives provide some unity between the two incongruous sections. Feel free to enjoy this composition openly (smiles and laughter are welcome), and to sympathize with the saxophonist, who must deal with some daunting non-standard performance demands.

Once in while, a composer comes across a performer who eagerly embraces a challenge, and who devotes endless time and boundless energy into learning a newly-composed piece. This individual works at the composition until it is "just right", settling for nothing less than the best possible interpretation of the piece.* Randall Smith is such a performer, and Romanza and Galop (1999) is enthusiastically dedicated to him.

By the way: I've been told that in general, a disproportionate number of saxophonists fall into this category. Thank you on behalf of composers everywhere!

Sonata No. 1 for Alto Saxophone and Piano Charles W. Smith (notes by the composer)

Sonata No. 1 for Alto Saxophone and Piano was written for the composer's eldest son, Randall Allan Smith, Associate Professor of Music at Truman State University. Randall gave its premiere performance, with his mother at the piano, at Indiana University in conjunction with the Eugene Rousseau Saxophone Master Class in 1989. Pitch materials in all three movements are derived from four pitch class sets presented in the first ten measures of the first movement. The three movements pitch centers (F,C,F) strongly suggest the tonic-dominant axis of the classical tradition. An admixture of homophonic and contrapuntal textures, together with considerable rhythmic variety, reflects an intense, colorful, and buoyant style, providing ample opportunities for both performers to interact within a contemporary tonal framework. The cadenza in the third movement provides occasion for the soloist to exploit the extensive range, great agility, and quintessential colors of the instrument.