Tango Boogie (2017)
by Sunny Knable (b. 1983)
for alto saxophone and bassoon
circa 5 minutes
commissioned by Xelena Duo
PROGRAM NOTES:
Tango Boogie was commissioned by the rip-roaring alto saxophone and bassoon duo that is Xelana Duo, comprised of Ana García and Alex Davis. As the title suggests, it is a mash-up of two different styles of music from two totally different cultures: a Spanish Tango based on Isaac Albeniz’ Española Nacional “Tango” and the American classic Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy, a song by Don Raye and Hughie Prince made popular in the 1940s by The Andrews Sisters. This somewhat mad combination was inspired by the nationalities of the performers themselves, Ana being from Spain and Alex from the United States. To make its creation even more personally tailored, I fashioned the form of the piece on a combination of the performers’ names: AlexAna, with ‘A’ representing a section in the key of A major, ‘e’ representing a section in E minor, and so on. But what does one do with ‘l’,‘x’ and ‘n’? My response is the flurry of bitonal, improvisational-like phrases interspersed between the contracting and quick dance rhythms. -- Sunny Knable