Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Playing in traffic


John Harle, the composer curating this summer's City of London Festival, will introduce "Leviathan," a work for 800 saxophones. On June 21, bands of saxes will march from outlying points to London Bridge.

"Each band will be playing in a certain key. So when they all converge together at the bridge, there will be chaos. Then, as they move on to the bridge, they will start playing in the same key, and as they move off it they will all resolve on to one note. It's using music as a metaphor: purging the city of its crisis of confidence and moving from chaos, to harmony, to unanimity," Harle tells Charlotte Higgins of The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/mar/10/arts-diary

Q: What's the difference between a saxophone and a lawn mower?

A: Lawn mowers sound better in small ensembles.

More saxophone jokes at:

http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/jokes/#saxophone