Description
8 Hands
Composed by Matthew Santa
For flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, and piano
Published by Conners Publications
Includes score and parts
The title of Eight Hands (2014) refers both to the eight hands of the performers that work together to realize it on stage, and to eight hands of poker, and the titles of the individual movements refer both to specific hands in the game of poker and to human states of being. Just as any game has its rules, any composition has its governing principles. In Eight Hands, sonata form governs the structure of the outer movements, while the slow middle movement is a passacaglia. The themes in Eight Hands are also organized in familiar ways, but there are also characteristics that individualize them, just as each player in a game individualizes the game itself. The music tells their story, but it is left to the audince to decide whether these characters are actually playing a card game, or merely using poker metaphors to tell stories from their lives.