Today’s track premiere features Post-Haste Reed Duo (saxophonist Sean Fredenburg and bassoonist Javier Rodriguez) performing Takuma Itoh’s Snapshots from their sophomore album Donut Robot!.
Following their 2016 debut release Beneath a canopy of angels… a River of Stars, Donut Robot! includes six new pieces for saxophone-bassoon duo by Edward Hines, Drew Baker, Andrea L. Reinkemeyer, Takuma Itoh, Michael Johanson, and Ruby Fulton.
Here’s what Takuma Itoh had to say about Snapshots:
I try to always resist having a singular “voice” when it comes to my own compositions. Snapshots is a window into that mindset, with each short movement trying to explore drastically different styles, techniques, and approaches. Perhaps there is still an underlying thread that can be traced between the four movements, but I tried my best to cover my tracks and be a completely different composer for each movement.
Donut Robot! is out on Aerocade Music on February 15th, but you can pre-order the album here.
About Post-Haste Reed Duo
One of the most active commissioning duos on the new music scene, the saxophone-bassoon Post-Haste Reed Duo (PHRD) is internationally acclaimed for performing “music of limitless stylistic range and emotional scope” by textura and as “essential listening” by I Care If You Listen. Saxophonist Sean Fredenburg and bassoonist Javier Rodriguez seek not only to increase the amount of quality chamber music literature for saxophone and bassoon duo, but also to foster widespread exploration of non-traditional chamber ensembles.
Formed in 2009, PHRD has grown to become a fixture in the new music community, enjoying a robust touring career appearing at universities, festivals, conferences, and concert halls throughout the United States and Canada. As of 2019, Post-Haste has commissioned acoustic and electro-acoustic works by over one dozen composers. PHRD has spoken and performed at classical and new music’s most prestigious gatherings, including those of the College Music Society, International Double Reed Society, North American Saxophone Alliance, the Society for Electro Acoustic Music in the United States, and the Hawaii International Conference on Arts & the Humanities, among others.
Post-Haste Reed Duo is currently based in Portland, Oregon.
About Takuma Itoh
Takuma Itoh spent his early childhood in Japan before moving to Northern California where he grew up. His music has been described as “brashly youthful and fresh” (New York Times). He has been featured amongst one of “100 Composers Under 40” on NPR Music and WQXR, he has been the recipient of such awards and commissions as the Barlow Endowment General Commission, Music Alive: New Partnerships grant with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the the Chamber Music America Classical Commission, and many more. In 2018, Itoh was instrumental in creating an innovative education program, Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds, which brought in over 8,000 local students to hear new orchestral compositions alongside original animations while raising awareness of Hawaii’s many endangered forest bird species.
Itoh’s music has been performed by the Albany Symphony, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, Symphony in C, the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), the Shanghai Quartet, the St. Lawrence Quartet, the Cassatt Quartet, the Momenta Quartet, Sara Davis Buechner, H2 Quartet, Invoke Quartet, Kojiro Umezaki, HUB New Music Ensemble, Duo Yumeno, and the Post-Haste Reed Duo. He holds degrees from Cornell University, University of Michigan, and Rice University. Since 2012, Itoh has been teaching at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa where he serves as an Associate Professor of Music.