Category: Chamber Music / Piano / Guitar Music / Opera
Instrumentation: woodwind quintet, piano; also available for four guitars
Duration: approximately 7 minutes
Publisher: ALRY Publications for the wind quintet and piano version
Performers: guitar quartet version written for the Atlantic Guitar Quartet
Recording: Ask of Me What the Birds Sang

A Jagged Path is a lively chamber work that draws its thematic material from Garth Baxter’s opera Lily, building on themes from Act I, Scene 3. In its version for woodwind quintet and piano, the piece uses four woodwinds, French horn, and piano to create a rhythmically energetic ensemble texture. A separate version for four guitars was written for the Atlantic Guitar Quartet.

The work spans chamber music, piano repertoire, guitar music, and Baxter’s operatic catalog through its connection to Lily. In the wind quintet and piano version, the piano is integrated into the ensemble as an active participant, while the wind instruments carry distinct colors and lines. The guitar quartet version translates the same dramatic and thematic impulse into a plucked-string medium, using the different timbres available on the guitar without moving into avant-garde techniques.

Musically, A Jagged Path is animated, rhythmically robust, and colorfully scored. Textura described the wind quintet and piano version as a piece in which “four woodwinds, French horn, and piano give voice to a rhythmically robust set-piece” and noted Baxter’s sensitivity in weaving distinct instrumental voices into “an elegant harmonic whole.” The work reflects Baxter’s ability to reimagine operatic material as concert music, preserving dramatic energy while shaping it into a concise chamber form.

A Jagged Path is suitable for chamber music concerts, wind quintet programs, piano-and-winds recitals, guitar quartet programs, and contemporary classical performances connected to opera or theatrical source material. The wind quintet and piano version was a finalist in the National Flute Association Newly Published Music of 2023 in the category of wind quartets and quintets, making it especially relevant for ensembles seeking recent repertoire with lyrical craft, rhythmic vitality, and strong instrumental character.