From Dewy Dreams, My Soul Arise

Using the ABA form, the B section temporarily transports the listener to a dreamlike state; the music features a duet between alto saxophone and soprano, while the remaining voices blur into the background as if half awake (and half asleep). The alto saxophone gesture throughout the work uses a variety of motivic ideas, from short fragmentary utterances to more florid lines, to sustain threadlike durations that tie the music together between phrases. The A sections feature homophonic chorale writing, using varying phrase lengths and slight variations in the motivic idea to bring out the poignancy and imagery of the Joyce text.