Canfield: Elevator Music for Alto Saxophone and Band (score/parts)

Code: JP6028
ISMN: 979-0-3019-0645-3

Elevator Music for Alto Saxophone and Band by David DeBoor Canfield.

Elevator Music for solo alto saxophone and wind ensemble was composed in December and January, 2012/2013. The piano reduction was not done until 2021. The music was written for and dedicated to Indiana Professor of Saxophone, Dr. Otis Murphy. The title is a pun on the given name of the dedicatee, who shares the name of the world’s most famous elevator company. The work is consequently full of motoristic writing and driving rhythms. Another joke, perhaps, is that this work is intended to be as far removed as possible from the insipid music typically encountered in elevators.

The work is cast in several contrasting sections, or “floors” that any elevator traverses. Given that one of them is a cadenza, the work can almost be thought of as a single-movement concerto. In the middle of the work, the listener will also hear the actual recorded sounds of a freight elevator, over which the soloist is called to extemporize. Beyond elevators, Canfield’s intention was simply to depict the mechanized and motorized age in which he and Dr. Murphy live, and the busy lives that both are involved in.

Duration is approximately 13 minutes. The technical demands require very accomplished players, both in the accompaniment and the solo part.

This edition for wind ensemble accompaniment has parts for flutes (piccolo) 1-3, oboes 1-2, English horn, clarinets 1-3, bass clarinet, bassoons 1-2, contrabassoon, 1 each of soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone, horns 1-4, trumpets 1-3, trombones 1-3, euphonium, tuba, harp, timpani, mallets, and percussion 1-4. The set includes parts and full conductor's score. The flutes, clarinets, euphonium, tuba, and percussion each have parts for 2 stands included; the remainder have 1. Extra parts may be ordered separately if needed by contacting Jeanne, Inc.

View page samples from the full score (measures 1-26 and 276-end). Adobe Reader software or similar PDF viewer is needed. Click here for PDF samples

If possible, m. 136 should be played over the sounds of a freight elevator. A Zip file containing a MP3 recording of these sounds may be downloaded at no charge by clicking MP3 Elevator Sounds

Elevator Music for alto saxophone and band is also available separately as a Study Score (JP6029) and in a piano reduction of the accompaniment (JP4115).

Click here for more information on David DeBoor Canfield