Later the Same Day (2021)

When Anders Paulsson asked me whether I would like to contribute with a solo saxophone piece to his pandemic project ”Solitary Poems”, I asked in return: ”is it OK with two saxophones…?”

I regarded it as going even further in the ingenuity of the lonely, isolated musician: letting him play a duet with himself! This also gave the form of the piece: From beginning to end, it is a strict canon, where saxophone number two – in a distance of four measures – imitates exactly the playing of saxophone number one. And never will the imitation be so exact as when a musician mirrors himself, does the same thing once more – only a little later… This made me think of Grace Paley’s famous short story collection ”Later the Same Day” (1985), from which I borrowed the title of the piece.

”Later the Same Day” for two soprano saxophones is dedicated to Anders Paulsson.