Straphanger

for tenor and baritone saxophones
commissioned by a consortium directed by Ogni Suono

Straphanger (2012) is inspired by Diego Rivera’s 1931 mural-style painting Frozen Assets. The painting’s three scenes of Great Depression life in New York City inform Straphanger’s structure, timbre, and register. The first movement, Drudge, is derived from Rivera’s depiction of the commuting middle class dwarfed by oppressive skyscrapers. Underclass references the middle of the painting, where the homeless, many of whom provided inexpensive labor to build the city, are warehoused in a steel and glass shed. The final movement, Robber Barons, is centered on the bottom third of the painting. Here, the wealthy preside over their fortunes in an underground bank vault. Hidden away from mainstream society, they appear indifferent to the inequality they perpetuate.