Alfred Reed

Ballade

This work is one of a group of three pieces for solo wind instruments and band commissioned by the G. LeBlanc Corporation as performance vehicles for their artist/clinicians, the other two being 'Ode for Trumpet' and 'Serenade for Clarinet'. It was written for Vincent J. 'Jimmy' Abato, a brilliant virtuoso both on the clarinet and saxophone. Like most ballades, its single main theme, accompanied by two smaller motifs, is developed in a continuous fashion, affeting many subtle changes of mood and color, even though almost every single measure is related in a close or distant way. In deferencce to the French school of saxophone playing, which was taken as a basis for the composition of this piece, the emphasis in on the long lyrical line of brilliant but light color, while the accompaniment is an always changing harmonic background of chords. This edition by adds a full score to the original publication (which only included a condensed score) in recognition of Alfred Reed's position as on of the most important composers of serious music for wind band.