Saxophone quartet

*Capriccio (1966)                                                         Robert Burch

Written for the 'New Zealand Saxophone Quartet', lead by Ronald Weatherburn. About 6mins long, great piece to play, no less accessible than classical French repertoire of the same period- both for players and audience. 

            Published by Waiteata Press (Wellington)

 

*Dance Suite for saxophones (2001)                        Ross Harris

5 movement, 10min+ work, commissioned by Saxcess. Not particularly 'jazzy' although it does feature opportunity for improvisation, for alto and tenor players. Version is available- without improvisation (written-out solos). A very satisfying piece, with plenty of opportunity for 'hard-out' drama as well as moments of intense delicacy- for all players.

            Published by Waiteata Press

 

*Goa Lawah (from Saxcession)                                 Gareth Farr

I personally can't comment of the other movements of this whole work, as I've never played or heard them, but as a stand-alone piece (of nearly 5 minutes) Goa Lawah has everything, a jam-packed saxophonistic adventure- and a good 'pinkie-workout' to boot. It takes the form of a fugue weaving its way through a gamelan-tinged chorale, and representing the darting and weaving of a million shrieking bats in a Balinese cave. Seriously fun music.

Other great sax music from Gareth:

The Mad Dog Bites Again- sax quartet + perc. 

Meditation-  alto sax + pno.

Un Verano de Passion- clar, ten sax, guit, marimba     

                                (also for saxophone quartet)           

Journey                                                                             Ludger Kisters

Variations on a Klezmer tune, Journey was written for Saxcess, when Ludger was completing his Masters Degree at Victoria University School of Music, in Wellington, NZ. This relatively short piece (5 minutes) features great micro-tonal writing for saxophone quartet, as well as strong unisono statements. It has been an enjoyable and successful addition to many of our concerts.

     

Owed to R (2005)                                                          Dorothy Buchanan

At first this was a difficult score to interpret, with the combination of many seamingly disparate concepts- bird-song, gregorian chant, micro-tonal glissandi, raw dissonance and finally, saxophones. However, this 14 minute gem ultimately provides the quartet with a thoroughly intense musical experience when the effort is put in to interpreting the beauty and simplicity of the underlying music.