The Music of Sherwood Shaffer

A full catalog of works by Shaffer (through 2007) is included in this Doctoral dissertation, written by Andrew Paul Hays.

A Performer's Guide to the Saxophone Music of Sherwood Shaffer

Performances & Recordings

Below is a curated list of select performances and recordings of music composed by Sherwood Shaffer.

First page of printed sheet music titled “Sonata: When Mountains Rising,” showing treble and bass staves with dense musical notation, dynamics, and expressive markings laid out in a formal classical score format.

Catherine Wheel for Orchestra (11:58)

3. Rounds (8:07)

Sinfonia for Saxophone Quartet

This work was commissioned for the New Century Saxophone Quartet’s Carnegie Hall Premiere performance after winning the prestigious Concert Artist Guild Competition in 1992 and then toured by them for many years. There are many other YouTube performances as well, by professionals and excellent student groups.

Published score and parts by Groth Music from their Ken Dorn Catalogue.

Listen to Audio Recordings of These Works

Catherine Wheels for Orchestra

Catherine Wheels by Sherwood Shaffer, recorded by the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Zlin, Czech Republic. This was inspired by the fireworks that spin and give off great sparks. Commissioned on various grants for the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, it was later performed by a number of orchestras in US and Europe, including the North Carolina School of the Arts both in Winston-Salem several times and during one of their summer concert tours of Italy. Even the Indianapolis Symphony performed it on a July 4th Celebration concert with elaborate fireworks display.

1. Fanfares and Cadenzas (11:12)

1. Quick and vibrant (6:31)

Composers’ Tapes

Contributor. Internet Archive

Tracklist:

  1. Sinfonia for Saxophone Quartet

  2. Saxophone Sonata "When Mountains Rising"

  3. Songs of Theano

  4. Mandarin Songs

2. Arias (11:32)

2. Lyric (4:46)

Lines from Shelley for Piano

This beautiful performance was part of Dr. Yoana Kyurkchieva’s master’s degree recital at the North Carolina School of the Arts. The work has also been performed by other pianists both professionals and advanced students, some for major competitions.

Lines from Shelley was composed in December 1983 and was inspired by the very special musicality Shaffer found in a few favorite lines from several different poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. He rearranged the lines, juxtaposing them into newly formed couplets, thus producing a whole new set of meanings. The work is in one continuous movement with sectional divisions for each line and couplet.

The lines from the poetry by Shelley are:

  1. Like the sun from a wintry sky

  2. Soft dreams of the morn

  3. Like wind through a ruined cell

  4. With music sweet as love

  5. A magic circle traced

  6. In the golden lightning of the sunken sun

Published by Subito Music in their MarksPrint Editions

Jack in the Box
for Alto and Tenor Saxophone Duet

Performed by Besozzi Trio (Pittsburgh, PA): Xiang Ji, Alto Saxophone; Daniel Muller, Tenor Saxophone; and Hyun Joo Park, Piano

This also appears on Shaffer’s CD Saxophone Premiere played by Drew Hays, Alto Saxophone; James Houlik, Tenor Saxophone; and Vahan Sargsyan, piano. Five other works are on this CD for various saxophones, piano, and one also with violin.

Published by Subito Music in their MarksPrint Editions

A Feast of Thunder for Solo Timpani

Performed by Mariana Poole at the N.C. School of the Arts

  1. Vulcan Forg

  2. Night Over Delphi

  3. Jupiter Sky-di

Published by Subito Music in their MarksPrint Editions

Summer Nocturne
for Alto Saxophone and Piano

  1. Verse: "the dark has a star its own"

  2. “Go and catch a falling star"

  3. Verse: (reprise)

  4. "The night in silence under many a star"

  5. Verse: (envoi)

Drew Hays, alto saxophone
Vahan Sargsyan, piano

The movements are based on lines from some unpublished poems by a friend, Marie Sparks.

Sherwood Shaffer Piano Concerto

Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra is in 3 movements

  • Max Livshitz, piano

  • The North-South Consonant Ensemble

  • Todd Stanton, conductor

Concerto: Unicorn Music

James Houlik, tenor saxophone

Czech Radio Orchestra
Paul Polivnick, conductor

The work is a full-length concerto in three movements played without pause:

  1. Quick and Vibrant

  2. Slow and Singing

  3. Presto

3. Presto (4:36)

Lines from Shelley for Piano (10:30)

Jack in the Box for Alto and Tenor Saxophone Duet (3:11)

A Feast of Thunder for Solo Timpani (16:27)

Summer Nocturne for Alto Saxophone and Piano (16:16)

Sherwood Shaffer Piano Concerto (30:23)

Concerto for Orchestra

Music from 6 Continents (1992 Series) ℗ 2011 Vienna Modern Masters

Released on: 2011-11-01

Conductor: Peter Perret

Orchestra: Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra