Dans un jardin japonais enneigé op. 4

“Dans un jardin japonais enneigé” is a piece for solo Saxophone, commissioned by Andreas van Zoelen.

The inspiration for this piece came from watching the movie “Kill Bill vol.1” by Quentin Tarantino, and in particular from the Shishi Odoshi‘s scene.
The Shishi Odoshi is the only spectator of the fight held in a snowy Japanese garden between the two warriors.

The Shishi Odoshi is a Japanese device intended to frighten away wild animals that threaten the agriculture. It is a sort of scaredeer.
The purpose of the piece is to describe the fight from the Shishi Odoshi’s point of view. The device continues to function at its own pace, despite the fight to the death it is witnessing.
Only at the end of the piece, when one contender dies, the Shishi Odoshi stops, contempleting the timeless passage from life to death.

I tried to emulate its sound thanks to the many expressive possibilities offered by the saxophone.
The movement of the device is reproduced by a glissando with special key fingering, and the slap reproduces the noises that the Shishi Odoshi makes as it returns to its original static position.