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Root

Jessica Dodge-Overstreet soprano saxophone
Wan-Ting Yu piano

Ika Peyron composer
Germaine Tailleferre composer
Dora Pejačević composer
Teresa Milanollo composer

Release Date: September 22, 2023
Catalog #: RR8092
Format: Digital
21st Century
Chamber
Piano
Saxophone

On ROOT, classical saxophonist and music theorist Jessica Dodge-Overstreet harnesses the ethereal, almost-vocal timbre of the soprano saxophone. Accompanied only by pianist Wan-Ting Yu, Dodge-Overstreet performs music written by a culturally-diverse cast of female composers including Ika Peyron, Germaine Tailleferre, Dora Pejačević, and Teresa Milanollo. From the technically demanding Sonate Slave, with its stratospheric leaps high into the instrument’s uppermost register, to the playful Variations Humouristiques sur l’air de Marlborough for violin and piano which sets the popular folk tune Bear Went Over the Mountain, Dodge-Overstreet brings this versatile and too-often overlooked instrument into the limelight.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Romance and Humoresk Op. 19: I. Romance Ika Peyron; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 5:30
02 Romance and Humoresk Op. 19: II. Humoresk Ika Peyron; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 4:17
03 Sonata No. 1: I. Modéré sans lenteur Germaine Tailleferre; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 6:38
04 Sonata No. 1: II. Scherzo Germaine Tailleferre; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 3:23
05 Sonata No. 1: III. Assez lent – Final Germaine Tailleferre; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 10:26
06 Sonata Slave Op. 43: I. Allegro con anima Dora Pejačević; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 7:15
07 Sonata Slave Op. 43: II. Adagio Dora Pejačević; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 5:55
08 Sonata Slave Op. 43: III. Allegro molto vivace Dora Pejačević; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 5:32
09 Variations Humouristiques sur l’air de Marlborough Teresa Milanollo; arr. Jessica Dodge-Overstreet Jessica Dodge-Overstreet, soprano saxophone; Wan-Ting Yu, piano 8:50

Recorded March 16, 18-19, 2023 at Tempest Studios in Tempe AZ
Producer Dr. Robert (Bob) Spring
Engineer Clarke Rigsby

Mastering Melanie Montgomery

Executive Producer Bob Lord

A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Chris Robinson

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Aidan Curran

Artist Information

Jessica Dodge

Jessica Dodge-Overstreet

Saxophonist

Jessica Dodge-Overstreet is a classical saxophonist and music theorist from Nevada. She has performed as a soloist across the United States as well as internationally in Canada, France, and Russia. Dodge passionately performs both works by living composers and transcriptions of works from before the saxophone was a standard solo voice. She has had a part in commissioning or premiering works by David Biedenbender, Viet Cuong, Mark Ford, Jenni Watson, and many others.

Learn More

Wan-Ting Yu

piano

Wan-Ting is a Taiwanese-born pianist and double bassist. She served as a member of the double bass section of the Taipei Symphony for five years before deciding to pursue an additional degree in collaborative piano. As both a bassist and a pianist, she has performed across the globe, in Germany, Italy, France, Mexico, Japan, Korea, and many others. She can be heard on renowned bassist Catalin Rotaru’s last three studio albums. She holds a bachelors in piano performance from the National Taiwan Normal University, a masters in double bass from the Taipei National University, and is currently a D.M.A. candidate at Arizona State University.

Notes

This set of character pieces by Swedish composer Ika Peyron combine the simplicity of salon performances with a high Romantic style. Ika Peyron did not begin composing until later in her life, and most commonly wrote music to be played at community gatherings. While not written for virtuosi like many other repertoires, the simplicity and singing quality of her writing renders flashy technique superfluous.

The first movement explores the lyricism of both the originally intended instrument (the violin), and in turn the soprano saxophone. With repeated false cadences and evaded closure, the movement is propelled by suspense and a pleading in the solo line. After a repeat of the opening theme up an octave, the movement gradually winds down to a single pitch in the saxophone as the piano line slowly relaxes to join.

The second movement contrasts intense running figures with the relaxed and easy character of the main themes. Throughout the movement, the tonality is constantly shifting between sunny major key sections and more intense minor key sections. These stark contrasts create an element of humor, and contribute to an overall lightness of character.

Germaine Tailleferre was the only female member of Les Six, and this work was written just as the group was gaining in notoriety. The piece is characteristically neoclassical, and is both metrically complex and tonally ambiguous.

The first movement features acrobatic melodic lines, frequently pushing up to the highest registers of the saxophone for the final pitch of a phrase. The extreme registers present in these lines are met with a flowing accompaniment and “built-in” rubato through complex rhythmic figures. The overall impression is a constant evolution of each of the themes and figures.

Scherzo movements are often a little humorous, and this movement is no exception. Set in an alternating 3/8 + 2/8 time, the meter already feels lopsided. To intensify this, Tailleferre frequently adds or drops beats to keep each new bar feeling unexpected. The metric playfulness in this movement is coupled with repetition which builds energy until the saxophone erupts into long, solo 16th lines which restart the energy of the movement.

The third movement of this work contains two distinct sections. In the first, slow moving lines slowly build in intensity and register, creating dramatic climaxes which lead to miniature cadenzas in the saxophone. After the final of these outbursts, the movement takes off into a tres vite (or, very lively) rondo. With each repeat of the main theme, the rhythms begin to conflict more and more. At the height of this metric climax, the energy dips into a lento piano section. After this slower moment, the movement races to the finish with a huge glissando in both voices leading into the final codetta.

Dora Pejačević’s Sonate Slave combines a high Romantic sonata style with the flavor of Eastern European and Slavic music. The first movement opens with a flourish of 16th notes in the primary theme. Throughout this movement, the beginnings of sections and phrases are always clear, but each time the music begins to wander. This leads to a sort of stream-of-consciousness within the movement. It’s easy to get lost in the registral leaps, shifting rhythms, and elongated themes. Finally the movement closes as it began, with running lines that lead up into the saxophone’s stratosphere.

The second movement plays with the contrasts between light and dark, cold and warm. As the movement unfolds, cold open fifths warm into singing major melodies. Dark, placid lines slowly build to a climax, and are then transformed into flowing, sunny lines. Despite the stark contrasts and transformation throughout, the movement closes as it began: dark and cold.

To close the work, Pejačević wrote a sonata-rondo movement full of sharp articulations and registral leaps. The two main themes are complete opposites, with a thrusting opening theme full of repeated figures melting into a pleading, lyrical line. This contrast is heightened by the continued repetition of the first theme. As it repeats, energy builds and builds, only to be released by the eventual return of the more lyrical melody. The work closes with flying filigree in the saxophone until the voices converge on a unison.

This theme and variations on the Marlborough Theme (better known in the United States as Bear Went Over the Mountain) is meant to be a little silly. The introduction is filled with pomp and pretense, only for the theme to emerge as a popular folk tune. This theme then undergoes progressively more virtuosic, and in some instances borderline goofy, variations. The range of the saxophone is maxed out, the rhythms distorted, and there’s even a slow, minor keyed variation to provide plenty of contrast and humor throughout.