Programme Notes

THE COLOUR OF SADNESS

The Colour of Sadness is the title of a woodcut, from a suite called 'Roaming Far from Home' (1953) by the Japanese artist, Shiko Munakata.

Munakata's image features strange gaunt birds and figures against washes of moody colours: blue, green mauve and touches of yellow. What particularly fascinated me was the paradoxical suggestion of both restless movement and a melancholy stillness in the image.  The piece uses extensive microtonal tuning in both the saxophone and prerecorded material. It lasts for sixteen minutes.