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Bach - Art Of The Fugue ~ New Century Saxophone Quartet
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Pancho Villa
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Date :
08 Nov 2010 16:19:12
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Bach - Art Of The Fugue ~ New Century Saxophone Quarte
Classical | Eac, Ape+cue, log | covers | 1 Cd, 344 Mb
01 janvier 2007 | Channel Classics | Filesonic + Fileserve
# Performer: Michael Stephenson, soprano saxophone
Christopher Hemingway, alto saxophone
Stephen Pollock, tenor saxophone
Brad Hubbard, baritone saxophone
| “ | The late jazz great Paul Desmond likened his alto saxophone sound to a dry martini. As I savored the New Century Saxophone Quartet's subtle timbre mixtures and easily undulating tempo choices throughout The Art of Fugue, I duly passed out the cocktail glasses! Reed pops and clicks hold no place in the smooth ensemble blend, while note attacks and dynamics seemingly emerge from stringed instruments caressed with bows of different shapes and sizes. Take the baritone saxophone's entrance at the start of Contrapunctus 13, for instance. Sounds like a period cello, no? Such feathery, unpressured, and well-thought-out performances are preferable to the overly reverential refinement that makes the Berlin Saxophone Quartet on CPO sound relatively precious (there's also much to be said for the Los Angeles Saxophone Quartet's more emphatic, fuller-throated style on Protone). Good as this disc sounds in the standard two-channel configuration, SACD 5.0 Multi-channel offers greater spatial perspective between the four players. In all, this release gives total joy from start to finish. [6/10/2004]--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com Don't expect jazzed-up Bach here. Although the New Century Saxophone Quartet swings in its own way, it's a thoroughly classical ensemble. The group's rationale for playing Bach is eloquently described in the microtype program notes, but you'll hear it for yourself on the CD. Bach never heard a saxophone, but the clarity, virtuosity, and restrained expressivity of this performance would probably have pleased him greatly. (Bach never specified his preference for instrumentation of this work.) Saxophones certainly aren't the only, or even the best, way to hear this music. But since it would benefit any music lover to hear "The Art of Fugue" as often as possible, this would be one excellent choice among several versions worth owning--and if you love the sound of saxophones, that's an added incentive, even though two pieces had to be omitted due to time limitions. This hybrid-SACD disc sounds just fine on a standard player, vividly recreating the group's live performance sound. --Leslie Gerber | ” |
1. Contrapunctus 1
2. Contrapunctus 2
3. Contrapunctus 3
4. Contrapunctus 4
5. Contrapunctus 5
6. Contrapunctus 13. Canon all Duodecima in Contrapunto alla Quinta
7. Contrapunctus 14. Canon all Decima. Contrapunto alla Terza
8. Contrapunctus 7
9. Contrapunctus 8
10. Contrapunctus 10
11. Contrapunctus 6
12. Contrapunctus 9
13. Contrapunctus 11
14. Contrapunctus 15. Canon per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu
15. Contrapunctus 12. Canon alla Ottava
16. Contrapunctus 16. Rectus
17. Contrapunctus 16. Inversus
18. Contrapunctus 19. Unfinished
19. Choral. Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein
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Another recording of Bach (this time, the Goldbergs) for woodwind quartet which would be nice to have (anyone?):
JS Bach - Goldberg Variations, performed by the Homecoming Woodwind Ensemble
(( J. S. Bach's apparently infinite resourcefulness of invention, as manifested by his enormously prolific output, is, perhaps, best summarised by one work: The Goldberg Variations. Within this one, self-contained work is displayed Bach's seemingly endless stream of ideas, his extraordinary ability to weave intricate patterns around the simplest of materials, an ability that would be purely ostentatious were the results not so tastefully and perfectly executed. It comes as no surprise, then, that the richness of this material still has a hugely enduring appeal for performers, composers and listeners alike.
One such performer is oboist Dmitri Bulgakov, who, like so many others, developed something amounting to obsession with this work on hearing it in one of the famous recordings by pianist Glenn Gould. Bulgakov became convinced of the capacity for the keyboard original to be arranged for a homogeneous quartet featuring the oboe. This idea began to take shape when fellow-oboist Pavel Strugalev suggested composer Andrei Eshpai. Eshpai, a renowned master of orchestration, had, amongst many other genres, written numerous concertos, and Strugalev had been one of the first to perform his Oboe Concerto. When Eshpai was approached with this proposal he readily agreed, and the whole concept came to fruition in the form in which we hear it on this disc.
For an arrangement to succeed in breathing fresh life into an old work, while simultaneously showing reverence for the character of that work, the choice of instruments is crucial. Bulgakov's instinct that the Goldberg Variations would adapt well to the sonority of the oboe was well founded; he suggested that in addition to two oboes, the cor anglais and bassoon should be used, which allowed Eshpai to span the range of pitches in Bach’s original. The combination of four double-reed instruments - as opposed to contrasting woodwind timbres, for instance - creates a unified texture, a very fitting equivalent to the evenness of tone one hears on a keyboard instrument. It does, of course, require a feat of stamina from the woodwind players performing this arrangement to sustain Bach's intricate, often long-breathed phrases with the apparent effortlessness that the nature of the music requires. But it is a feat worthy of the work's ambitious scale, and one that it must give great satisfaction to accomplish.
© Joanna Wyld, 2006 ))
Filesonic links are deleted, fileserve link are ok.