A Conductor’s and Performer’s Guide to Steven Bryant’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone - Chester Jenkins

20 At measure 38, Bryant makes the first use of harmony built upon the Creston motive, though it is highly obscured through trills in the saxophone section. Two tetrads built upon the Creston motive appear concurrently at this point. The first tetrad is built within the saxophone section, using alto 1 and 2, tenor sax, and the alto soloist. Together they form the tetrad D-C-A-Bb. Looking at the clarinet section, the pitches Eb, Db and B are present. Much in the same way that one pitch serves as a bridge in the melodic sections, in this case, the Bb in the alto saxophone 2 part serves as a bridge, completing a tetrad of the Creston motive, Eb, Db, Bb, B. With this, two tetrads, a half-step apart, are present. This same technique of building two tetrads with a pivot pitch is more clearly present in measure 165 (woodwinds) and measure 171 (brass).