| Cabinet of Curiosities, a concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra, is cast in three main movements, preceded by a short prelude. The instrumentation of the work is as follows: Solo Saxophone Quartet (Soprano in B-flat, Alto in E-flat, Tenor in B-flat, Baritone in E-flat), Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, English Horn, 3 B-flat Clarinets (3 doubling Bass Clarinet in B-flat), 2 Bassoons, Contrabassoon, 4 Horns in F, 3 Trumpets in C, 2 Tenor Trombones, Bass Trombone, Tuba, Timpani, 3 Percussion (complete percussion instrument list included in score), Piano, Harp, and Strings. Cabinets of curiosities (known also as Kunstkammern), emerged first in the wealthy and royal homes of the sixteenth century. The cabinets held collections of various wondrous and thought-provoking objects with no obvious categorization or curation. Many of these collections included archaeological relics obtained by explorers during their voyages to the new world (Exotica), impressive and curious works of Art (Artificialia), technologically advanced mechanical automata (Scientifica), and obscure and exotic specimens from nature (Naturalia). These collections served primarily as a status symbol for the wealthy patrons that owned them, but were also viewed as a kind of proto-museum displaying, in one room, objects once unknown (and sometimes unbelievable) to European audiences at the time. To these visitors, the cabinet was a microcosm of the world.;What is most striking about these early collections was not only the breadth of objects, but also the haphazard curation and organization of them. All of these disparate and eclectic objects were sitting beside one another almost arbitrarily. The purpose of these cabinets were not (at first, anyway) to present an easily followed narrative through science and history, but more generally to display all of the amazing and wondrous stuff the owner has in their collection. There is a kind of gleeful and passionate randomness about this idea that is meant to play out musically through stylistic diversity and eclectic shifts of texture and timbre. |
