Beth Anderson
October Swale
Year: 2022
Duration (in minutes): 9
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: string orchestra
Instruments: cello, contrabass, soprano saxophone, viola, violin
Publisher website: www.beand.com
Description: A swale is a meadow or a marsh where wild flowers grow together in profusion due to rich soil and water availability. I use the word swale as a musical form of collage. October is a month of beautiful leaves and Halloween. This swale for saxophone and string orchestra has a lot of mysterious, creepy crawlies and wicked surprises, along with some hymn like passages and a gothic waltz that appears and disappears. I had the character, Wednesday Addams, from Tim Burton’s Addams Family spinoff, Wednesday, in mind.