Some Items, Fox Preferred, Penultimate Destination (2019)

for twelve-part saxophone ensemble (SnSSAAATTTBBBs)

Download a .pdf of the score here.

Program Note:

Some Items, Fox Preferred, Penultimate Destination was written for the University of Toronto Saxophone Ensemble during my time as composer-in-residence of that ensemble.

The title Some Items, Fox Preferred, Penultimate Destination is a play on the expression “No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination” associated with competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee (turning off spawning items and competing on the static “Final Destination” map minimizes randomness in the game, ensuring that the competition is entirely skill-based, while the character Fox McCloud’s relative strength in the game meant that he was often pros’ character choice). This phrase, however, has since become a meme of itself, mocking the bizarrely extreme seriousness with which people take a game – something that is meant to be relaxing and fun. In Some Items, Fox Preferred, Penultimate Destination, I have tried to encapsulate this dichotomy by pitting lighthearted battle music (meant to represent the natural state of “casual” gameplay in SSBM) against very serious music (here representing people who try to take the game way too seriously), as well as darker, more subdued moments. The piece ends quietly, embodying the tragedy of the conflict over something that we all just want to love in our own way.

Or maybe this is just a piece of music that happens to have drawn some musical inspiration from video game scores, and I thought that Some Items, Fox Preferred, Penultimate Destination would be a funny play-on-words.

Who knows?

Performance History:

2019 - 12 - 12: Trinity Laban Saxophone Choir - St. Alfege Church, Greenwich, London, UK

2019 - 04 - 27: University of Toronto Saxophone Ensemble - Father Madden Hall, Toronto (premiere)