Gershwin's Promenade (Walking the Dog) (2021)

George Gershwin's Promenade (Walking the Dog) was written in 1937 for the film Shall We Dance. It was one of the first times where Gershwin had asked if he could compose some of the background score for a film, on top of the musical numbers.

When asked to arrange this piece for saxophone and string orchestra, I felt that the saxophone could definitely bring that world that Gershwin imagined, to the audience. With the power of a string orchestra, I decided to bring certain sections to a much large size. Maybe imagine the dog is Clifford the Big Red Dog or something. :P

This arrangement was commissioned by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 2021 for an encore performance by Samuel Phua at Night of the Saxophone, a concert at Victoria Concert Hall.

This work is dedicated to Anana Chari - my sassy sister who always has good puns and retorts to say, evocative of the sassy nature of the saxophone in this work.