Instrumentation: Flute, Alto Saxophone, Percussion, & Double bass

When Dominic Flynn invited me to write a piece for flute, saxophone, percussion and double bass, I spontaneously said I’d use the same rules I self-imposed for Assorted Amalgam, which used seven players. Four players for the new piece immediately imposed greater restrictions. The rules enable a potential analyst to account for every pitch and note duration. The exclusivity and contrast between all the instruments is likely to stretch the aesthetic sensibility, and I found it as challenging as anything I’ve composed in spite of its comparative brevity - 6.5 minutes.  I include here the list of the 8 "means" for each player’s "gesture": solos; repetitions; overlaps; transpositions; interruptions (in which case the particular "gesture", at next entry, to start its "gesture" from the beginning); changes of octave registration for the whole "gesture"; doubling note values for the whole "gesture"; halving note values for the whole "gesture".