[mkemp]

For alto, anything by Jean-Yves Formeau will be great. On the other side of the spectrum, Lawrence Gwozdz is a fantastic player as well. His latest Handel cd has some of the most beautiful playing I've heard. For soprano, I'd suggest Steven Mauk's cd, and tenor, anything by Houlik.

 

[mkemp]

If you want, classicsax radio has many recordings of Rascher himself that are not available on cd anymore, as well as recordings of John Edward Kelly, James Houlik, Lawrence Gwozdz (Rascher players), and Marcel Mule, Delangle, etc. (French Players).

I have to say listening to Rascher is interesting to say the least. I suspect it has to do with the nature of the recordings, but his sound is sometimes suspect. However, the musicianship is undeniably there. At times I am unimpressed by the so called "master", yet at other times I am completely blown away, more so then any other recording of classical sax that I have heard. As for Mule's sound, I actually prefer his style of play to modern French.

 

[mkemp]

As far as John-Edward Kelly goes, am I alone in not liking his sound? He is a fantastic technical player, with great musicianship, but his tone is almost hollow sounding...for Rascher players, I like Lawrence Gwozdz, Houlik (although he's a tenor player so it's a bit hard to compare him to the others) and the late David Bilger.

For French players, you can take your pick...Delangle, Sugawa, and even Rousseau and Hemke

I kind of agree with you. I love his altissimo in the Larsson recording. But on his Ibert, judging but the 1 minute clips on amazon.com, he definitely sounded a bit hollow. Gwozdz I think has the best tone, there is jsut something about it that I don't find anywhere else. It's certainly reedy, but it gives it such an authentic woodwind sound. His playing in the Still Romance on the Concerto Tribute cd is prolly the most beautiful song I've ever heard. The only thing that comes even close imo is a recording I heard of Formeau (is it weird I think the 2 most beautiful sounds came from opposite spectrums?). What you think of Kelly I think of Delangle. His sound is too bright for my tastes, in some cases painfully so, and I have to turn it off cause I can't take it! I think it's more likely you'll find people agreeing with your assessment of Kelly then mine of Delangle though lol.