[Taragot]

Hello,
For an audition of a student, I'm looking for an alto piece, that should fit in the following categories:

lenght: ca. 4min

style: no baroque, all other epoches possible

should be with piano or for alto solo and more on the easy intermediate side.

The student is not a sax student of mine (I don't teach sax).

It would be great to get some recommendations here.

Thanks a lot!

 

[saxoclese]

One of my favorite pieces that is musically challenging, but doesn't require advanced technic is "Ballad" by Alfred Reed. It was written with band accompaniment, but works equally well with piano. If the student has "Smart Music" he could practice with the piano accompaniment using that.

 

[LostConn]

1. Kabalevsky, Sonatina, arr. for alto sax & piano by Harry Gee -- A nice piece with a strong Russian flavor, although it might be closer to "challenging intermediate" or "easy advanced" than to "easy intermediate." Grade 4 on the U.S. sheet music difficulty scale of 1-6.

2. Glass, Melodies for Saxophone (solo) -- Pick out one or two of the easier pieces. Suggestions: No. 6, No. 8. You need to have excellent tone for this music.

3. Vaughan Williams, Six Studies in English Folksong for solo instrument (alto sax is an option) & piano -- Again, choose two of these.

4. Schumann, Three Romances, Op. 94, arr. for alto sax & piano (various editions available) -- This work is really an advanced choice overall, not intermediate, but No. 1 might be feasible for a student with good interpretive skills.

 

[Taragot]

Great and helpfull suggestions so far! Thank you very much!

 

[laurjohn]

Have a look at Larry Teal's "Solos for the Alto Saxophone Player". There are some well-arranged pieces in there, including 'The Old Castle' from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" (in the original key, no less), and Rachmaninov's Vocalise. This book is well known and hence, widely available too.

 

[Taragot]

Update: I chose the last three pieces of vaughan williams, ecactly what I was looking for.
Thank you very much!