Painted Red

Painted Red was composed in 2024 for Saxophone Ensemble and Drum Kit.

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Duration: c. 3 minutes 30 seconds.

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Riots, bloodshed, violence. Unruly behaviour, parties, drinking and dancing. Chaos and havoc reign supreme, and everything is turned up to 11. This work takes inspiration from rock and metal music, in which the above themes are regularly used. The title comes from the idiom 'paint the town red', which has two main meanings. The first meaning is to have a wild time - party, drink, celebrate and enjoy yourself. The second meaning refers to riotous and wild behaviour resulting in bloodshed and violence, hence painting it 'red' with blood.

This work utilises some common features of metal and heavy rock music - using the key of E minor, metal/rock style drumming (including extensive use of kick drums, toms and fast
blast-beats styles), running semiquaver lines (including repetitive patterns), and loud, intense saxophone to mimic the screaming/raspy style vocals and guitar solos. This piece is a short and explosive work, and should be played with high levels of energy and power. Another related inspiration for this work is the game Guitar Hero. The piece utilises a pentatonic scale, to represent the 5 buttons on the iconic guitar shaped controller.

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Performances:

Sydney Conservatorium Saxophone Ensemble. DATE. Conductor. Location. International Premiere.

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Price: $80

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