The programme is called to showcase the contemporary music written for saxophone and piano in the past fifty years. The works of Nodaira and Denisov are part of the core saxophone repertoire, the solo piano compositions of Maslekovas and Coleman had been prizewinners of the She Lives – Budapest Prize Composition Competition in 2021. The Four Pieces by József Soproni is a scarcely known and rarely performed composition, and the two solo-saxophone works of the programme, Soliloquium and the saxophone version of Péter Eötvös’ Cadenza show the different shades and colours the instrument is capable producing even on its own.
The connection between these compositions is the importance of silence. Whether it is a fermata or a precisely written out pause, in each of these compositions the silence is just as important as the sounds.