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Glazunov - LeFanu - Meyer · Saxophone concertos Alexander Glazunov Concerto for alto saxophone and string orchestra (1934) The great Russian romantic Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936) was living as a kind of refugee near Paris when my teacher Sigurd Rascher asked him on December 15, 1933 to write a saxophone concerto. The night before, Rascher had heard a performance of Glazunov's Saxophone Quartet op. 109 and was sure that the master would be interested in his playing. Glazunov, on the other hand, did not expect to be enthusiastic: »Young man, I have known the saxophone for more than 50 years!« he explained when Rascher spoke to him. However, when he heard Rascher's extraordinary playing, he exclaimed enthusiastically: "Yes, I will write a concerto for such a musician!" come to compose. His spontaneous decision to write a larger work was therefore all the more astonishing. A few weeks later, in Copenhagen – where he lived in exile from 1933 to 1938 – Rascher received the news that the concerto was almost finished. Soon after, he made his way back to Paris to finalize the details with the composer, including agreeing on the tempi and a new cadence. The premiere took place on November 26, 1934 in Nyköping (Sweden) with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra under Tord Brenner and Sigurd Rascher as soloists. The next day Glazunov's concert was played again in Norrköping; this time the premiere of Lars-Erik Larsson's saxophone concerto was also on the programme. Glazunov was neither a modernist nor a fashionable composer, but rather a staunch Russian romantic in the tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov and – in the noblest sense – an accomplished craftsman. Once hailed as Russia's greatest musical talent, his prodigious musical ability was legendary in his own lifetime (see the numerous notes in Shostakovich's 'Testament'). The Saxophone Concerto is also not a very progressive work, but a wonderful presentation of the saxophone Glazunov obviously loved. Glazunov did much to promote the acceptance of the saxophone as a concert instrument, and he gave this instrument its only truly romantic concert. Nevertheless, Glazunov's saxophone concerto was a difficult birth. Largely for socio-political reasons, he had trouble finding a publisher for the concerto and died before the printed edition could be corrected. As a result, the edition remained erroneous and with dubious changes, both in the solo part and in the orchestra. In addition, the saxophone concerto is called ›Op. 109‹, although Glazunov gave this – like all his last four compositions – no opus number. (›Op. 109‹ is the saxophone quartet). In addition, the edition contains several noticeably wrong notes and an obviously erroneous metronome indication. Also, A. Petiot, an editor at Editions Leduc, was listed as 'co-composer' in early editions. I was able to convince myself of this absurdity, since Sigurd Rascher gave me the opportunity to learn the work from Glazunov's completely handwritten score, and the name of A. Petiot does not appear anywhere. There is no evidence yet, but the most likely reason for this 'game' seems to be purely copyright-related, especially in view of the global political situation of the time. Based on Glazunov's manuscript, I restored the published edition to its original state and used it for the present CD recording. In the concert, with Glazunov's approval, Sigurd Rascher played his own cadenza, which I personally was never particularly taken with. Rascher encouraged me to write my own, which is played here. Nicola LeFanu · Concerto for alto saxophone and string orchestra (1989) Nicola LeFanu (born 1947) is the daughter of the composer Elisabeth Maconchy, a granddaughter of the legendary Irish Victorian writer Sheridan LeFanu and a former student of the exceptional composer Egon Wellesz. After studying at Oxford, the Royal College of Music, Harvard and Brandeis, Nicola LeFanu lived for many years in London, where she taught at King's College with her husband, the Australian composer David Lumsdaine. From 1994 to 2008 she was Head of Music and Professor of Composition at the University of York. Her extensive oeuvre includes more than a hundred compositions - including seven operas - and has been performed all over the world. Despite her success, composing remains more of a passion than a profession for her. At my request she had already composed the remarkable saxophone quartet Moon Over the Western Ridge, Mootwingee in 1985 when I asked her in 1988 to write a saxophone concerto for me. In 1990 a favorable opportunity arose for the premiere with the fabulous Finnish Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Juha Kangas, and it was not long before the concerto was ready. Nicola LeFanu wrote about her magical quarter-tone work: »My saxophone concerto consists of one movement and lasts about 20 minutes. Its characteristic and unusual soundscape results from its virtuosity (especially in the saxophone, but also in the strings) and the quarter tones that run through the entire piece. The concert has concentrated energy and timbre; it is basically a lyrical work that has a lot to do with imagination and reflection. The work is built on a number of recurring ideas, thus bearing a distant affinity with the ritornello form. These ideas are linked and mixed together, but never exactly repeated; they always appear transformed. This is easy to see in the powerful reappearance of the unison string music. The chromatic harmony of the concerto is the modal basis of the work. It shows up in its quiet center and glimmers again in the coda. When I try to find images for my piece, I think of the sea: turbulent, stormy, calm... I think of a bird soaring, or a shell tossed back and forth again and again by the waves, even by them tenderest wave, on a starry night. Krzysztof Meyer Concerto for alto saxophone and string orchestra, op. 79 (1993) Krzysztof Meyer (born 1943) is particularly valued for his highly developed musical talent, great artistic integrity and diverse oeuvre, yet his music remains largely an insider tip. Despite the numerous international performances of his works and a long list of admirers (including well-known instrumentalists and also famous composers such as his close friend Witold Lutosławski), his work was overshadowed by the better-known Polish avant-gardists for many years. However, he did not allow himself to be distracted by this, but continued to develop his expressive musical language. Born in Kraków in 1943 as the son of a doctor, his studies ultimately led him to the composition class of Stanisław Wiechowicz and Krzysztof Penderecki in Kraków and to Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He became friends with Dmitri Shostakovich, became a well-known expert on his music and wrote an outstanding Shostakovich biography. He quickly became a recognized and popular teacher and accepted professorships first in Kraków and later at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He is associated with the Polish musicologist Dr. Danuta Gwizdalanka is married and lives in Germany and Poland. The concerto for alto saxophone and string orchestra was written at my request in 1992-93. The work consists of a plaintive, dark slow movement ('Quieto') and a seven-part, high-contrast fast movement ('Inquieto'). A touchingly beautiful use of harsh dissonances - typical of Meyer's music - is at the center of the melodic and harmonic characteristics of both movements. Equally typical of Krzysztof Meyer is the high degree of integration between the solo instrument and the orchestra: the saxophone consistently plays the leading role, but always remains embedded in the continuation of the whole. For its part, the orchestra remains an ever-essential partner in what is happening, never being assigned a secondary accompanying role. The use of the saxophone is remarkable, particularly an unimpeded virtuosity in the highest registers. Although the concerto makes a dazzling impression on the way to its dramatic climax, it is also a work that was created with meticulous attention to detail. The listener should pay particular attention to the emotionally charged atmosphere modulated by Meyer's expressive, harmonic language, as well as to the pantomimic gestures that are expressed in the smallest melodic motifs. These two aspects are among the central building blocks of Krzysztof Meyer's special musical world. The concerto for alto saxophone and string orchestra was premiered on January 12, 1994 in Stuttgart with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Heinrich Schiff. John Edward Kelly |
program:
Alexandre Glazounov (1865-1936)
[01] Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra (1934) 14: 17
Cadenza: John Edward Kelly
John Edward Kelly, conductor & soloist
Nicola LeFanu (* 1947)
[02] Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra (1989) * 23:43
Dedicated to John Edward Kelly
Micha Hamel, conductor
Krzysztof Meyer (* 1943)
Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra, op. 79 (1993) * 20:41
Dedicated to John Edward Kelly
[03] I Quieto 11:40
[04] II Inquiet 09:01
Micha Hamel, conductor
total time 58:42
John Edward Kelly, alto saxophone
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic
John Edward Kelly & Michael Hamel, conductors
* World Premiere Recordings
Press:
19.01.2013
Here at last is the recording for which John-Edward Kelly's fans have been waiting for almost 12 years. Recorded in 2000 by the soon-to-be-defunct Emergo label, it has been waiting in legal limbo until NEOS was finally able to secure the rights to the recording. It is of particular interest for a number of reasons, not least for the recording of the Glazunov Concerto. This concerto is the most famous and most frequently played in the repertoire, so that seems an odd statement until one realizes that John-Edward Kelly was a student of Sigurd Raschèr, who in 1933 convinced the aging Glazunov to write the concerto for him. The serious works for the instrument were still few and Raschèr, having just heard Glazunov's saxophone quartet, which determined to have a concerto by him. The composer initially resisted the commission, but was convinced by Raschèr's extraordinary technique and sound. In his notes for this recording, Kelly quotes Glazunov as saying “Yes, for such a musician I will write a concerto!”
Kelly brings the same qualities of silky richness and unforced eloquence—which led Raschèr to choose Kelly to replace him in the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet in 1981—but goes further by returning to the original manuscript to correct the “many mistakes and dubious alterations in both the solo part and the orchestra.” Kelly provides his own cadenza, as he was encouraged to do by his teacher, rather than use Raschèr's. He also conducts the performance himself, assuring that the concerto is heard as a dignified, reflective work of more than usual autumnal gentleness.
The two other items on the program present a marked contrast to the romantic Glazunov concerto. They are both contemporary works, dedicated to Kelly by two composers whom he has since championed as a conductor of the New York-based Arcos Orchestra, which he founded in 2005. Kelly has an ear for wellconstructed works, but these works challenge the ear where the Glazunov beguiles. Opening with a bold orchestral surge, English composer Nicola LeFanu's single-movement Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra (1989) sets the alternatingly agitated and ruminative solo line against an often mysterious orchestral background that occasionally becomes energetic and aggressive. The essentially chromatic character of the music is made stranger by the use of quarter-tone bending of the line. LeFanu indulges in some mildly extended techniques, mainly slap-tongue, but generally as punctuation for the predominant and, as the work progresses, increasingly ethereal lyricism.
Polish composer Krzysztof Meyer's Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra (1993) is a work of deeper emotions in two contrasting movements: the first dark and mournful, the second unsettled and dramatic in its contrasting sections. The saxophone functions often as an orchestral lead as much as a soloist, rising out of the string textures and interacting with the orchestra rather than contending with it in the classical sense of a concerto. Again, extended techniques—slap and flutter tongue—are used, but sparingly, often as an almost musing gesture. The harmonic language is often dissonant, but expressive.
John Edward Kelly does not disappoint. The modern works are as skillfully realized as the more traditionally beautiful Glazunov. He draws a fluid, open tone from his 1928 instrument which was built to the original Adolphe Sax specifications. Legato is done smoothly, extended techniques are realized with taste, and the extensive altissimo of the Meyer concerto is accomplished with apparent ease. The Netherland Radio Chamber Philharmonic plays well under both the soloist and guest conductor Micha Hamel. A most welcome release.
Ronald E.Grames
18.06.2012
Alexander Glazounov's (1865-1936) career as a composer and teacher spanned the transition from Romantic era to experimental modernity. As Director of the St. Petersburg (later the Leningrad) Conservatory from 1895-1928, he taught Miaskovsky and Prokofiev, but his compositions never moved beyond the Romantic Russian tradition. Taught by one of the great orchestrators, Rimsky-Korsakov, his works were brilliantly scored, and, unlike many Russian composers, mostly optimistic, but lacked the melodic fecundity that would compensate for his monochromic emotional landscape.
Glazounov's Saxophone Concerto eschews any link to jazz; it's a purely romantic work. The alto saxophone, with its mellifluous, dusky tone and the lush string accompaniment creates the perfect environment for a '50s cocktail lounge setting. There is a bouncy, spirited second section that provides tempo contrast, but the lack of bite is a significant drawback. Saxophonist John-Edward Kelly negotiates the musical challenges with verve and aplomb.
Listening to Nicola LeFanu's (b. 1947) Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra (1989) after the Glazounov, is akin to experiencing a fresh autumn breeze at the end of a hot summer. LeFanu is the daughter of composer Elizabeth Maconchy, whose Symphony for Double String Orchestra, recorded on the Lyrita label, was an audiophile favorite in the 1990s. The quicksilver mood changes - frenetic, calm, eery, beautiful - make this an emotionally riveting work. The composer accurately describes her composition as “full of energy and color; essentially a lyrical piece concerned with fantasy and reflection.” Especially beautiful is the calm interlude of the middle section that expresses the nostalgic autumnal quality that the alto sax expresses so well. An ending solo cadenza exploits virtuosic possibilities that are flawlessly executed by John-Edward Kelly.
Krzysztof Meyer (b. 1943) is a relatively unknown member of the Polish avant-garde, who studied with Krzysztof Penderecki, Nadia Boulanger, and befriended Witold Lutoslawski and Dmitri Shostakovich. His Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra (1993) starts with a brooding and serious quiet section, 'Quieto,' yet its dissonances are starkly beautiful. The second section, 'Inquieto' is a lighter, almost improvisational romp, exploiting the alto sax's higher registers to create a brilliant tapestry that stimulates the musical intellect.
Soloist John-Edward Kelly commissioned both of the modern works and is an impeccable soloist. The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic is a superb accompanist and the sound is ideal. If you love the classical saxophone, this CD will provide much stimulation and pleasure.
Robert Moon
26.05.2012
Great moments for an “aquatic instrument”
by Rainer Aschemeier
Most music listeners know it almost exclusively from jazz music, quite a few consider it dispensable per se in the classical orchestra, and Claude Debussy once abused it as an “aquatic instrument”: the saxophone.
There is no question that the saxophone, as a relatively late development, did not find it easy to assert itself in the classical symphony orchestra. Invented in 1840 by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax, its sonorous sound made it a regular fixture in French military bands from 1845 onwards. It was only some time later that serious composers such as Hector Berlioz and Giacomo Meyerbeer discovered it for their orchestra.
It only got really exciting when jazz in the 1920s caused a saxophone boom in pop music, which even the representatives of so-called serious music could not escape: Alban Berg, Igor Stravinsky, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Maurice Ravel, Benjamin Britten - and yes, Claude Debussy too composed music with prominent saxophone parts. However, none of them wrote a veritable saxophone concerto. And so it is that one of the composers, who is otherwise almost forgotten by the broad majority of music listeners, can claim the most played and most popular saxophone concerto to this day. It can be found again and again on the repertoire even deep in the provinces and can look back on a rich history of recordings on records and CDs.
We are talking about the beautiful saxophone concerto by Alexander Glazunov. Glazunov was a professor of instrumentation at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and teacher of a seemingly unmanageable number of prominent Russian composers such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokoffjew and Nikolai Myaskovsky (to name just the three most important). In the later years of his life Glazunov got serious health problems, which were probably due to a long "career" as an alcoholic. Nevertheless, the already ailing composer set about writing a wonderful saxophone concerto two years before his death, which we get to hear in a top performance on this new release from the Munich label NEOS.
The executive soloist and conductor of the recording presented here is John-Edward Kelly, whose teacher was Sigurd Rascher. Rascher, in turn, was the soloist at the world premiere of Glazunov's concerto in 1934 in Nyköping, Sweden.
Although there are many good performances of this work (my favorite so far has been the recording with Dutch soloist Arno Bornkamp and the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra on challenge classics), this one on NEOS is undoubtedly one of the very best, perhaps even the top recording of this one to date is irresistible attractive works.
John-Edward Kelly has an unusually high degree of dynamic gradation and extraordinary virtuosity. While this benefits Glazunov's saxophone concerto in a more 'casual' way, the other two pieces on this CD really show Kelly everything his instrument is capable of.
Both the Irish composer Nicola LeFanu (a granddaughter of the cult Irish writer Sheridan LeFanu, who was a kind of Irish answer to ETA Hoffmann) and the Polish composer Krzysztof Meyer do not limit themselves to viewing the saxophone as a mere wind instrument. They also use it as a quasi-percussive design element. Overtones are almost provoked, teased out, as unusual sound effects as possible should be achieved.
While this works quite well with Krzysztof Meyer - simply because he, as a former friend of Witold Lutosławski and as a contemporary composer who is still active today, cultivates an appropriately modern style -, in my opinion, the concerto for alto saxophone and string orchestra by Nicola LeFanu is much less successful . LeFanu tries to give her concert a modern touch, but she can't hide the fact that she would have preferred neo-romantic sounds à la Michael Nyman. I don't want to say anything against neotonality, but Nicola LeFanu's saxophone concerto seems rather artificial and not "cast from one piece". Krzysztof Meyer's concert is something completely different. The structure of the work consciously sets it apart from the Glazunov model (which, by the way, LeFanu doesn't do) and in two contrasting sections (titled “Quieto” and “Inquieto”) the saxophone virtually faces itself. His approach is not only a concert with an original form and a traditionally modern tonal language, but it is also an exhibition of the solo instrument. As in a showcase, the saxophone is shown here in all its facets - from shiny gold and iridescent to chattering and noisy.
In terms of sound, the CD is quite successful, but lacks a bit of acoustic resolution. Nevertheless, one can speak of high-class audio technology without hesitation, even if it may not meet the highest hi-fi demands in every detail.
Conclusion: For a long time there hasn't been such an exciting saxophone album in the classical area. All the pieces represented are well worth listening to and are consistently performed in a first-class manner by the renowned Dutch Chamber Philharmonic under the direction of Micha Hamel. The absolutely fabulous soloist John-Edward Kelly is then, so to speak, the "icing on the cake" on an all-round successful CD production. Congratulations to the Munich label NEOS on this wonderful recording! For me, at least in terms of Glazunov, it is the new reference on the market.
Classicsax.com
05.05.2012
John-Edward Kelly's latest saxophone CD release is one that we've been waiting on for a few years! Back in 2000, Mr Kelly recorded these three concerti with the excellent Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic. Only now have they been released on the NEOS label.
Most saxophonists are very familiar with the famous Concerto by Alexander Glazunov. It is easily one of the most often studied and performed works in the repertory. There has been a resurgence of interest in the work from an historical point of view, so much so that there will be a presentation at the World Saxophone Congress meeting in July on this topic. While this type of examination of the repertoire of a particular instrument is common place among other instrumentalists, it is not always so with the saxophone. I believe the primary reason is that our body of music is relatively young, as is our instrument, and, therefore, has not attracted the scholarly examination into the origins or performances of the music. However, the new edition of the Glazunov Concerto from Baerenreiter, the new edition of the Debussy Rhapsodie from Henle, along with publications from Ethos, are presenting just this type of critical study of our music.
We can catch a glimpse into history through this recording from John Kelly. Mr. Kelly studied the Glazunov from the manuscript score with Sigurd Rascher. His rendition here makes good use of that preparation. Wrong notes in the printed version are corrected as well as one tempo indication. The score was restored to the manuscript version and was used for this recording. If one is familiar with Rascher's quite different aesthetic regarding this concerto, you can hear the Rascher influence throughout. As presented here, the concerto is not a “show piece” or technical tour-de-force. It is a stately, Romantic presentation of the saxophone as Glazunov heard it back in 1933. We will remain indebted to Alexander Glazunov for providing us the only true Romantic-era concerto for the saxophone. It is with this realization, and from this perspective, that the concerto should be studied and performed. Mr. Kelly does an admirable job in all respects, even providing an excellent, self-composed cadenza in the published version. Printed articulations and phrasings are not taken as definitive, but this, again, reflects the era of composition. If you need to be convinced of this, just look at how many editions there are of the great violin concerti prepared by different performers throughout the years.
The two other compositions on the recording are music of today. Nicola LeFanu gave the saxophone quartet a wonderful work back in 1985 entitled Moon over the Western Ridge, Mootwingee. Ms. LeFanu offers a few words about her 1989 concerto: “My Concerto for Saxophone is a single movement work lasting about 20 minutes. It has a characteristic and unusual sound world, arising from its virtuosity (in the solo saxophone and strings, too) and also because it employs quarter-tones throughout. The concerto is full of energy and color; “It is essentially a lyric piece, concerned with fantasy and reflection.”
As with many of the pieces composed for John Kelly, the 4+ octave range of the saxophone is used without reserve. The Concerto by Krzysztof Meyer was composed in 1992-93 and consists of a lamenting, darkly-textured slow movement and a dramatic seven-sectioned, starkly-contrasted fast movement. The music is passionate, expressive, dramatic. The use of the saxophone is remarkable, utilizing the high register with an unhindered virtuosity. Mr. Kelly seems most comfortable with these types of pieces and he creates a riveting performance here.
Robert Haley