Written in 2013 for Chee Meng Low, Terra nemo for baritone saxophone received its world première on 19 February 2014.
Commissioned by the outstanding soloist Chee Meng Low for his University of Alberta doctoral recital and composed in 2013, Terra nemo is a highly virtuosic and technically challenging piece that incorporates such extended techniques as circular breathing, growling effects, quarter-tones, alternate fingerings, irregular and erratic rhythms. These techniques serve one purpose only: to create a world of expressive and emotive strangeness, “otherness”, the world of outer sonic appearance removed from that usually associated with the instrument, albeit not devoid of humour. This unusual style of the piece, as Chee Meng Low observed, lends itself well to illustrating perhaps “a drunken” Chinese martial arts routine.
Related links: Chee Meng Low