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Convergence

Music for Saxophone & Fixed Media

Jenni Watson composer
Andy Scott composer
Ruby Fulton composer
Rahsaan Barber composer
Peter Meechan composer
Barry Cockcroft composer
Frank Felice composer
Sang Mi Ahn composer

Heidi Radtke saxophone

Release Date: March 1, 2024
Catalog #: NV6608
Format: Digital
21st Century
Avant-Garde
Electronic
Saxophone

What is music but a convergence of story, people, and place? It’s a question that Heidi Radtke’s debut album CONVERGENCE for soprano, alto, and tenor sax asks earnestly, an elegant meshing of the heartbeats behind the sounds of eight living composers, strung together by the laughter and conversation woven into each exploration, and the saxophone’s ability to tell its tale. The full breadth of Radtke’s capability is on display as she navigates the variety of narratives, messages, and sonic uniquities in the landscape of CONVERGENCE, sometimes bolstered forward with a bubbly charm — in the “chicken clucks” of Barry Cockcroft’s Ku Ku — and sometimes with a powerful, reminding grace, — Rahsaan Barber’s Breonna Taylor (How Many More?) – but always with a special musicality.

CONVERGENCE explores the intersection of instruments, musical tradition, and the saxophone’s ability to explore these soundscapes, especially in the format of saxophone with fixed media. From a reimagination of Debussy to field recordings of natural spaces and sounds taken completely from a cell phone, the fixed media selections boast a wide range of musical styles, but all are connected through storytelling.

Ending with the title track, Convergence, Radtke invites the listener to take part in the conversation — the best stories are the ones told together.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Arabesque (2018) Jenni Watson Heidi Radtke, alto saxophone 5:07
02 Westland (2018) Andy Scott Heidi Radtke, tenor saxophone 5:52
03 Wind Telephone (2018) Ruby Fulton Heidi Radtke, alto saxophone 11:35
04 Breonna Taylor (How Many More?) (2020) Rahsaan Barber, arr. Heidi Radtke, Rahsaan Barber (2023) Heidi Radtke, alto saxophone 3:51
05 3 Pieces for Solo Saxophone (2004): 1am Peter Meechan Heidi Radtke, tenor saxophone 2:44
06 3 Pieces for Solo Saxophone (2004): èlègie Peter Meechan Heidi Radtke, tenor saxophone 3:25
07 3 Pieces for Solo Saxophone (2004): dawn song Peter Meechan Heidi Radtke, tenor saxophone 3:47
08 Ku Ku (1997) Barry Cockcroft Heidi Radtke, soprano saxophone 6:48
09 Ten Sacks o’ Sneaks and Snacks (2022) Frank Felice Heidi Radtke, tenor saxophone 6:15
10 Convergence (2011) Sang Mi Ahn Heidi Radtke, alto saxophone 7:56

This recording was made possible through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Music Faculty Advancement and Research Program. A special thanks to Jay Harper for his support and brilliance.

Recorded May 30, 31, and June 1, 2023 at Moeser Auditorium, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill NC
Recording Producer, Engineer, Editing and Mastering Jay Harper

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil
A&R Chris Robinson

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming, Morgan Hauber
Publicity Chelsea Kornago

Artist Information

Heidi Radtke

Saxophonist

Driven to create a musical bond with her listeners, saxophonist Heidi Radtke is attracted to the many musical traditions that claim the saxophone as their own. With influences ranging from contemporary classical to jazz and popular genres, Radtke gravitates towards music that dances, sings, and tells a story. As a performing artist, Radtke seeks to entertain, provide emotional connection and release, stir creativity, pique curiosity, generate compassion, and above all, inspire the artistic voice in others.

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Frank Felice

Composer

Frank Felice (b. 1961) is an eclectic composer who writes with a postmodern mischievousness: each piece speaks in its own language, and his works can be by turns comedic/ironic, simple/complex, subtle/startling, or humble/reverent. Recent projects of Felice’s have taken a turn toward the sweeter side, exploring a consonant adiatonicism.

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Notes

UK-based Saxophonist and composer Jenni Watson (b. 1985), brings her predominantly Classical music background together with a love of many wide-ranging styles. She merges several genre boundaries and is popular for composing in an aesthetic, emotional and accessible style. Watson premiered her work Arabesque at the 18th World Saxophone Congress, Zagreb (Croatia) 2018, in a recital entitled: ‘Debussy 100: Reimagined’ along with pianist Martin Jacoby. Using motifs from Debussy’s first Arabesque for solo piano, Watson describes the work as a piece that is continuously undulating and bubbling with energy. Composed for alto saxophone and piano or backing track, the version presented on this album surrounds the saxophone with a lush arrangement featuring violin and piano.

With a lifelong passion for music and over 30 years of experience of initiating creative projects, British composer, saxophonist, and educator Andy Scott (b. 1966) is a highly versatile contemporary musician, with a distinctive saxophonic and compositional voice that encompasses elements of jazz, world, and contemporary classical styles. Scott describes his work for solo tenor saxophone, Westland, as “an exploration of soundscapes that integrates carefully chosen multiphonics into the harmonic and melodic language, creating a musical journey that is at times fragile and at times robust. At the centre of the harmony are pivot notes that connect sessions, whilst rhythmic tension and release is created almost as if notated rubato.” This work truly captures the tenor saxophone in all its glory, from robust and powerful to sweet and lyrical.

Composer and musician Ruby Fulton (b. 1981) writes music which invites listeners to explore non-musical ideas through sound. Her musical portfolio includes explorations of mental illness, Buddhism, philosophy, psychedelic research, addiction, and chess strategy; and profiles of iconic popular figures like the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and musicians Syd Barrett and Whitney Houston. In an exploration of heartbreak and loss, Fulton’s work, Wind Telephone, takes its inspiration from a device that was used by grieving family members in disaster-torn Otsuki, Japan, after the 2011 tsunami left 10% of the town’s 16,000 residents dead or missing. Built by Itaru Sasaki, this disconnected phone to nowhere was intended to provide solace to the town’s grieving residents, who were seeking to connect with their lost loved ones. The electronics part for Wind Telephone is derived almost exclusively from the sound of a vibrating cell phone. Fulton notes, “I imagined trying several times to reach a loved one, without avail, before finally breaking through to a fantastical and other-worldly soundscape. This magical fantasy land gradually deteriorates back into reality.”

Rahsaan Barber (b. 1980) has set out on a singular path of musical excellence in performance, composition, education, and entrepreneurship. In addition to working as a professor at The University of North Carolina since 2020, Rahsaan enjoys a performance career that encompasses an ever-expanding range of musical styles, including jazz, blues, funk, classical, fusion, soul, Latin, and world music. Originally recorded as the last track on his 2021 album Mosaic, Rahsaan Barber composed Breonna Taylor (How Many More?) to pay tribute to the memory of a life that was taken too soon. At the time of her death in March 2020, 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was an ER technician and former Louisville EMT. A resident of Louisville, KY, Breonna Taylor lived near the famed Iroquois Park, a sprawling 725-acre municipal park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. In this re-imagining of the original composition, the melody and solo section of the work are placed over a fixed-media backdrop comprised of a field recording of Iroquois Park, along with piano and manipulated piano strings. Within the sonic landscape are the sounds of birds, frogs, and children playing in the distance, which serve as a constant reminder of the precious life that was lost.

The music of Canadian-British composer Peter Meechan (b. 1980) ranges from works for chamber ensembles to symphony orchestra, brass bands and wind band/ensembles, and solo and unaccompanied works, as well as pieces with electronics. Meechan lays the framework for “1am” from his 3 Pieces for Solo Saxophone with the following scenario: ‘A lonely man, on the New York Sub-way, playing his saxophone – not for money, but for himself. No one else is around and it is 1AM…’ In keeping with this idea of a lonely busker performing from the soul, 3 Pieces for Solo Saxophone is presented on this album with a fixed-media backdrop taken from field recordings of a London train station.

Australian saxophonist and composer Barry Cockcroft (b. 1972) is known for compositions that have a captivating appeal, distinctive quirkiness, and technical intrigue. Taking inspiration primarily from real life events, which have often been humorous, Cockcroft quotes his Australian saxophone teacher Peter Clinch in saying, “if you can’t play fast – play funny!” When discussing his work for solo soprano saxophone, Ku Ku, Cockcroft explains, “I had been studying in France and one of the last pieces that I performed was Berio’s Sequenza VIIb for soprano saxophone. As I tend to do when practicing, I improvised around the themes of the piece. I often found that to contrast the extreme nature of the Sequenza I would play long melodic lines. To contrast further with this, I would take some of the multiphonics used by Berio and add some funky rhythms. When a friend kindly told me that I sounded like a chicken it was amusing to extend on this idea.”

Frank Felice (b. 1961) is an eclectic composer who writes with a postmodern mischievousness: each piece speaks in its own language, and they can be by turns comedic/ironic, simple/complex, subtle/startling or humble/reverent. Recent projects of Felice’s have taken a turn towards the sweeter side, exploring a consonant adiatonicism. Commissioned by and composed for Heidi Radtke in 2022, Felice describes Ten Sacks o’ Sneaks and Snacks as “a quirky scherzo with ever shifting tonal patterns of major thirds, playing hard to get against a fixed media part that sits on a base of looped beats comprised mostly of shifting cymbal patterns with odd percussion bits and clocks and blocks and clicks and clocks, but sly…. flirty…. mixed with a bit of mischief, wordplay and sent through the spin cycle with Stephenson’s Snowcrash, Gaiman’s The Sandman, and the Antique Roadshow. It can be a bit like an off-road county fair carnival ride. Or a ride through a long car wash with snacks. And sneaks. (Chuck Taylor’s preferred). Ten Sacks worth.”

Sang Mi Ahn (b. 1979) is a composer of both acoustic and electro-acoustic mediums. Her music encompasses a wide range of styles including tonal, contemplative, jazz-influenced, noise-based, atmospheric and miniaturist styles. Ahn believes that music is capable of affecting the listener directly, regardless of whether it is written in a simple or complex musical language and in subtle or dramatic gestures. Through her music, she wants to bring the invisible into the listener’s perspectives. Convergence was composed in collaboration with and dedicated to Heidi Radtke in 2011, while both artists were pursuing doctoral degrees at Indiana University. Most of the electronics part is taken from sounds made by Heidi Radtke on her saxophone. The work begins with the solo saxophone, throwing questions out into the unknown. Soon after, a voice responds and the two embark in conversation. Through their intense sonic dialogue, the parts shift back and forth, blurring phrases and picking up where the other voice leaves off. The work finally comes to a conclusion with a convergence of the two voices.