57. Gold Talon Saxophone Quartet

Abstract

The Gold Talon Quartet is a saxophone chamber ensemble comprised of music students from UNG’s Dahlonega campus. The group was formed in 2018 by music majors Megan Durkas (alto), Jacob Evans (baritone), Andrew Ferguson (soprano) and Preston Miller (tenor). The group is under the direction of Dr. Bart Walters, professor of saxophone studies at the University of North Georgia. The Gold Talon Quartet will be performing Grand Quatour Concertante by Jean-Baptiste Singelee, a Belgian composer of the Romantic era. Singelee was one of the first composers to treat the saxophone as a viable instrument in classical chamber music. In his Grand Quatour Concertante, Singelee applies Romantic period compositional techniques to the saxophone family. The melody is passed between all four voices as a lyrical conversation unfolds over varying ostinatos. The group will also be performing La fille aux cheveux de lin (Girl with the Flaxen Hair), by Claude Debussy, a transcription of the original piano work, a staple of the popular French composer. Debussy was heavily influenced by the then avant garde art and poetry of the late 19th and early 20th century, which would later become known as Impressionism. His music is infused with extended harmonies, chord planing, parallelism, and modal material to creating music that defies expectations. Most notably in Girl with the Flaxen Hair, is his use of 9th chords and pentatonic scales to defy a sense of pull towards one single tonality.