Glow was composed in the spring of 2022 for the Alba Music Festival and Estrella Consort. The core concept and technique in this piece are inspired by Bartók's axis system. A basic example is when the melody goes down, the bass goes up. In the third movement, due to the saxophones being transposing instruments, the soprano and alto share the exact same descending melody on a transposed score, while the tenor and baritone share the ascending bassline. This technique creates a unique tension that differs from traditional harmonic progressions.

This piece is an arrangement of my marimba and bass clarinet duo, DuelSense, which didn’t really take off. However, I loved the material, so I rearranged it for a saxophone quartet, and that's how Glow was born. Since it's no longer a duo, I had to rename the piece. The saxophone is usually golden and shiny, so I randomly titled it Glow. To my surprise, Glow has become one of my most performed pieces and has been played by many standard ensembles.

(Wenbin Lyu, April 7, 2022)

2023 - Sinta Quartet - National Composition Competition; runners-up

May 14, 2024; Kerrytown Concert House; Ann Arbor, MI; Sinta Quartet

April 6, 2024; Northern Illinois University; DeKalb, IL; Estrella Consort

November 2, 2023; SCI Region V Conference; Ohio University; Athens, OH; Sonax Saxophone Quartet

October 27, 2023; Contemporary Music Festival; Indiana State University; Terre Haute, IN; Kevin Norton, Jiajun Hou, Guangcong Chen, & Carly Hood, saxophone quartet

October 15, 2023; West Virginia University; Morgantown, WV; Estrella Consort

March 25, 2023; Penn State International New Music Festival and Symposium; Penn State University; State College, PA; Capitol Quartet

March 24, 2023; NACUSA National Conference; University of Montevallo; Montevallo, AL; Cahaba Saxophone Quartet

February 2, 2023; Wright State University; Dayton, OH; Hunter Ashcraft

October 26, 2022; View From the Edge; CCM; Cincinnati, OH; Crimson Quartet

October 20, 2022; CCM; Cincinnati, OH; The Palmetto Saxophone Quartet (reading)

May 28, 2022; Alba Music Festival; Oratorio Confraternita Santa Croce; Alba, Italy; Estrella Consort

May 26, 2022 (premiere); Alba Music Festival; Chiesa della Maddalena; Alba, Italy; Estrella Consort