Alto Oscuro was originally composed as an alto saxophone piece (obviously under a different title). It was written while I was still a student to fulfill a commission from Rikk Stone for the American Saxophone Project. Soon afterwards I revised the piece for flute (c-flute or alto flute) as Flauto Oscuro for the fabulous Marianne Gedigian. A number of years later the amazing New York flutist Margaret Lancaster scheduled multiple performances of Flauto Oscuro so I decided on a further revision of the work. I then set it aside for a number of years and only recently decided to make it available once more. While challenging in its upper register, this piece works wonderfully on alto flute! Try it. Very recently saxophonist Noah Getz inquired about the work so I’ve created an alto saxophone edition, hearkening all the way back to the roots of the piece. Mirroring my pervious comment about performances on alto flute, this pieces also works wonderfully well on soprano sax. Try it!
