Program notes

Lines folding, opus 121 (2025)

  1. 1. With melancholy yearning then flowing and graceful
  2. 2. Pulsing but very smooth

Lines Folding is a two movement work for a quintet of woodwind reed instruments: oboe, B flat clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone and bassoon. The work is dedicated to Geoff Stearn and was commissioned for the Melbourne-based ensemble, Reeds Bending, by The Australian Cultural Fund. It was composed in Bronte in Sydney in the second half of 2025. First performances by Reeds Bending at St John’s, East Malvern and Yarragon Festival, Victoria on 1 and 3 May 2026.

The first movement  is marked “With melancholy yearning” and is slow and lyrical in its outer sections. The second movement is fast and quite agile for the players. The movement is marked “Pulsing but very smooth” and presents patterns of rapidly repeated pairs of notes in harmonic cycles.  Both movements are about 6 minutes 20 seconds in duration. The overall title, Lines Folding, refers to the continual overlapping lines of counterpoint throughout the work. 

View sample pages of the score here. To purchase the complete score and parts: australianmusiccentre.com.au.

© www.andrewschultz.net 2025


For more about Reeds Bending ensemble and the first performances – click here.


 

 

 


 

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