Flash

Each of the four movements of Flash represents a different musical impression of the word flash, and the titles of each movement (Blink, Sparkle, Blaze, Shimmer) are themselves synonyms. The music exploits the entire range of the soprano saxophone and in the first three movements uses a dense musical vocabulary that is at different times jocular, taunting, whimsical, and aggressive. The last movement (Shimmer) acts as a contrast to the preceding three in a quiet setting of a lyric saxophone melody supported by high, staggered chords in the piano.