Large Saxophone Ensemble Rep
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There's a saxophone player/teacher over in Texas, Jose (Angel may be able to give his full name as he knows him better than I) who has done some excellent arrangements for full saxophone choir. Last summer at Wild Acres we played two of his arrangements, one was Grainger's Children's March which was scored for I think Soprano down to Bass; then we played Vaughn William's Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallas which was scored sopranino down to bass.. This piece was actually for solo sax quartet and ensemble. He's definitely done some good work!
Gotta put in my vote for the Sextour my Kastner. It was the first work written specifically for saxophone I believe, including all solo and chamber works. Its a pretty interesting piece, at the time only the bass sax had been invented, but it was scored for 2 basses, 1 bari, 1 alto, and 2 soprano's. Talk about vision. Rascher later rescored it for a more attainable group of sax's.
Considering its the first work written for saxophone, and the fact that Kastner was a close friend of Adolphe Sax (I believe one of his operas or something like that premiered the saxophone, with Adolphe as the soloist), it gives us the closest possible idea as to what Sax was thinking when he invented the saxophone. Historically significant, and a good piece at that! Gotta love chords by a well balanced sax ensemble (Rascher Orchestra recording).
Considering its the first work written for saxophone, and the fact that Kastner was a close friend of Adolphe Sax (I believe one of his operas or something like that premiered the saxophone, with Adolphe as the soloist), it gives us the closest possible idea as to what Sax was thinking when he invented the saxophone. Historically significant, and a good piece at that! Gotta love chords by a well balanced sax ensemble (Rascher Orchestra recording).
I think those liner notes say that only the bass sax had been employed in performances at that time, but I think the other instruments were probably in existence. I'll have to dig out that CD again.mkemp said:
I like the idea of doing Kastner's Sextour, too. That's actually one of the only pieces I've pretty much decided upon - for the historic aspects you mention, and just because it's kinda pretty. I also remember liking the Hartley from that CD.
I'm intrigued by the Wirth, just because I almost always agree with Alan, which makes me think I'll like it. All of the other transcriptions you guys mentioned sound intriguing as well, but I'd like to find some more original works.... Hmmmmm....
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Any of you guys heard or played in the "Sinfonietta for Saxophone Ensemble" by Dr. Ronald Caravan? I comissioned it and premiered it in '95 with my high school saxophone ensemble. I think (perhaps I'm biased) that it's a really good work!
I also like Caravan's:
Declamation: A rhetorical fanfare
Jubilate
Wirth's "Portals"
Frackenphol did a reall nice arrangement of "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
Taggart's "Two Sad Songs"
Sousa's untitled original one step
Steve
I also like Caravan's:
Declamation: A rhetorical fanfare
Jubilate
Wirth's "Portals"
Frackenphol did a reall nice arrangement of "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
Taggart's "Two Sad Songs"
Sousa's untitled original one step
Steve
Alan - thanks for taking the time to send -- you're the best...
Now that I have my CD in hand, I realize that the Wirth is on the same CD -- I do really like it.
Of course, I don't want the theme of the concert to be "We're covering all the tunes from that Rascher Ensemble album..."
Now that I have my CD in hand, I realize that the Wirth is on the same CD -- I do really like it.
Of course, I don't want the theme of the concert to be "We're covering all the tunes from that Rascher Ensemble album..."
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Prodigal-
As Bezozzi mentioned, Jose Oliver Riojas is a school band director in Texas who has a great talent for arranging. That Vaughan Williams stuff we did was difficult but expertly worked out and sounded absolutely beautiful with just a few days of rehearsal. It also helps that we had our very own SaxHotshot527 as the ninja sopranino player in the ensemble. Dude was playing notes so high, we couldn't hear them, but his eyes were crossed, face beet-red, and our ears were bleeding.
Of course that could have been the beer, too.
I'm not a big fan of literature for saxophone orchestra in general, but you NEED to hear the London Saxophonic's CD "Eye for a Difference" which consists of pieces from Michael Nyman film scores arranged for large saxo ensemble. Players include our own Dave Roach (who sounds spectacular on soprano and tenor on that disc), Simon Haram, Christian Forshaw, Andy Findon, and more. This is one of my favorite saxophone CDs, and I've been listening to it frequently for years now. It is rockin' amazing.
Edited to add that Rascher stuff makes up only part of the existing literature for saxo ensemble. Londeix commissioned quite a bit of original compositions and some arrangements for his own Ensemble International de Saxophones. I believe the CDs are available directly from him. Also, Serge Bichon conducts his own saxophone ensemble at the Conservatoire in Lyon, and they have released 2 CDs worth of material. Again, I'm not terribly excited by anything on those CDs except for the accomplished playing of the young students involved.
Angel
As Bezozzi mentioned, Jose Oliver Riojas is a school band director in Texas who has a great talent for arranging. That Vaughan Williams stuff we did was difficult but expertly worked out and sounded absolutely beautiful with just a few days of rehearsal. It also helps that we had our very own SaxHotshot527 as the ninja sopranino player in the ensemble. Dude was playing notes so high, we couldn't hear them, but his eyes were crossed, face beet-red, and our ears were bleeding.
Of course that could have been the beer, too.
I'm not a big fan of literature for saxophone orchestra in general, but you NEED to hear the London Saxophonic's CD "Eye for a Difference" which consists of pieces from Michael Nyman film scores arranged for large saxo ensemble. Players include our own Dave Roach (who sounds spectacular on soprano and tenor on that disc), Simon Haram, Christian Forshaw, Andy Findon, and more. This is one of my favorite saxophone CDs, and I've been listening to it frequently for years now. It is rockin' amazing.
Edited to add that Rascher stuff makes up only part of the existing literature for saxo ensemble. Londeix commissioned quite a bit of original compositions and some arrangements for his own Ensemble International de Saxophones. I believe the CDs are available directly from him. Also, Serge Bichon conducts his own saxophone ensemble at the Conservatoire in Lyon, and they have released 2 CDs worth of material. Again, I'm not terribly excited by anything on those CDs except for the accomplished playing of the young students involved.
Angel
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Music in that movie is good, I think. Drowning By Numbers, Draughtsman's Contract, and Carrington film scores are outstanding. While you're at it, grab the "Essential Michael Nyman Band" CD on the Argo label. You should be able to get it used on Amazon.com for just a few bucks.
Angel
Angel
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There is a great piece by Elwood Derr (of I Never Saw Another Butterfly fame)called Passacaglia: In rememerance of Carl Orff (he was a student of Orff). It is for double sax quartet. By far my favorite sax ensemble piece. Have you played this prodigal???
I believe that was composed after I left - '96 or so? Don't suppose you know of a recording? Perhaps I could double all of the parts?. ..Michigansax said:
hmmm. . . .
The Mussorgsky was actually mentioned, JMax - Caravan just wasn't credited. Sounds like I should track that down too, eh?
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By a twist of fate I happened to find a recording of a live performance. We worked on it at Michigan but Derr didn't want us to do it. Oh well.prodigal said:
http://www.mikelivingston.net/mp3/derr.mp3
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