TIGERS AND LILIES

for twelve saxophones

by 
Robert Morris

Program Notes

  
I chose the title Tigers and Lilies for this work for twelve 
saxophones since it suggests the  dual nature of the saxophone--at
once a jazz and classical instrument.  I wanted to write music 
that would provide an intersection between these two aspects of the 
instrument and in the process suggest references to 
both jazz  and classical art music in the process.  Thus 
there are passages that allude to music from the stage band, 
bee-bop,  and free jazz idioms juxtaposed with textures and processes 
more readily affiliated with American post-tonal music.
  
The work is scored for three quartets, each consisting of 
a soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone,  arranged as 
such on the stage.  In addition, the three trios of like 
instruments provide another way of projecting  textural strands.  
Longer solos for the middle quartet provide still other ways to 
partition the ensemble.  Such cross associations are also followed 
up in the way musical materials are distributed throughout the 
ensemble.  Various musical processes temporally unfold in 
counterpoint or  juxtaposition or simply mingle together  
generating a musical form that bifurcates and recontracts into 
a (boisterous but friendly) maze of colorful  gesture.  
  
Tigers and Lilies was written in 1979 and first performed 
by students of Marshal Taylor at the Philadelphia College 
of the Performing Arts.