CLOSE YOUR EYES AND THINK ABOUT SOMEONE YOU LOVE
You make a conscious choice to love someone every day.
'Close Your Eyes and Think About Someone You Love' was written for a department-bubble lineup of Thallein Ensemble, consisting of 10 saxophones and 8 percussionists. 'Close Your Eyes...' was written in the space of two weeks in November 2020. I treated the ten saxophones as one electric guitar, the percussion as a deconstructed and modified drum kit.
Conceptually, 'Close Your Eyes...' stemmed from a photo I discovered of Slab City, California - a treatise on the universality of love - and the drama and bombast of wrestling entrance themes, marrying them together in a cacophonous love ballad, which in another time may have been toured by a glam rock band...
You make a conscious choice to love someone every day. Don’t let those fires die. Let them rage on.
'Close Your Eyes and Think About Someone You Love' was written for Thallein Ensemble in November 2020. The piece was workshopped and subsequently performed at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in June 2021, conducted by Daniele Rosina.
Performers:
Soprano sax 1 (lead) - Alicia Hillman
Soprano sax 2 - Samantha Atkinson
Alto sax 1 (lead) - Michael Cooper
Alto sax 2 - Anna Young
Alto sax 3 - Nathan Hyatt
Tenor sax 1 - Neavan Lobhan
Tenor sax 2 - Claudia Araghrez
Baritone sax 1 - Max Thomas
Baritone sax 2 - Reuben Selby
Bass sax - Ewan Wright
Vibraphone (lead percussionist) - Nick Cowling
Marimba - Alex Henshaw
Glockenspiel - Cathryn Lynch
Drums - Jack Davis
Tam-tam - Dean Rogers
Bass drum - Simon Arriola Segura
Timpani - Aidan Hammond
Conductor - Daniele Rosina
Performed by Thallein Ensemble on 11 June 2021.
Interested in performing this work or perusing a score? Get in touch!