Favorite saxophone works

[DavidW]

But, dude! That means you can play Heedless Watermelon! ; )

I think I would have an asthma attack if I tried to play Heedless Watermelon!

[SonicMan46]

i]Koechlin, Charles[/i] - Saxophone Works et al

Please let me re-emphasize - my post seems to have been ignored; but for those who like the saxophone by a 20th century classical music composer, I cannot offer further recommendation to the one shown above - this is some beautiful music by a composer who understood this music in this genre - YES, it is that good!  Dave   

[DavidW]

Dave, no worries I haven't ignored any of the posts!

[jowcol]

Please let me re-emphasize - my post seems to have been ignored; but for those who like the saxophone by a 20th century classical music composer, I cannot offer further recommendation to the one shown above - this is some beautiful music by a composer who understood this music in this genre - YES, it is that good!  Dave   

To be honest-- the Koechlin album you cited didn't thrill me as much as some of the other Koechlin albums I've picked up of late.  I'm a huge fan of Koechlin's solo piano and orchestral works.  I'll need to dip back into this album.

[mc ukrneal]

Bizet - L'arlesienne Suites
Bach - There are some quartets that do some great great things with these works

[jowcol]

Karlheinz Stockhausen

• In Freundschaft
• Edentia
• Lucifer's Dance

Luciano Berio

• Sequenza VIIb; Sequenza IXb
• Chemins IV; Chemins VII; Duos

Philip Glass

• Concerto for Sax Quartet & Orchestra
• Concerto for Saxophone (Quartet Version)

Iannis Xenakis

• Xas

Anders Koppel

• Works for Saxophone & Orchestra

Anton Webern

• Quartet, op. 22

Harrison Birtwistle

• Panic

Also suggest Penderecki's Actions for Free Jazz Orchestra-- it's one of his loosest compositions, and a personal fave as far in the area where free jazz and the avante-garde ran into each other.

[petrarch]

Wolfgang Mitterer

• Obsoderso (with Wolfgang Puschnig)

Gérard Grisey

• Anubis
• Nout

[offbeat]

Love the haunting use of the saxophone in Rachmaninovs Symphonic Dances - his last work but imo probably his most heartfelt 

[Florestan]

Love the haunting use of the saxophone in Rachmaninovs Symphonic Dances - his last work but imo probably his most heartfelt 

Seconded.

[CRCulver]

A great number of the pieces mentioned are alternate transcriptions made of pieces originally composed for clarinet. Evidently among modernist composers, the sax was an afterthought.

[CRCulver]

That's not true, what the hell are you talking about ...

The Debussy, Grisey and Berio pieces were all composed for clarinet first. The Ligeti was originally composed for a wind quintet and the transcription for sax ensemble I doubt was the composer's. Some Stockhausen pieces for saxophone were originally composed for clarinet, as his partner Suzanne Stephens is a clarinet virtuoso, with sax transcriptions only coming later.

[petrarch]

A great number of the pieces mentioned are alternate transcriptions made of pieces originally composed for clarinet. Evidently among modernist composers, the sax was an afterthought.

As James said, quite a few were composed for sax, rather than transcribed later. In any case, does it make a difference? Are the pieces less worthy or less interesting after transcription?

Giacinto Scelsi

• Tre pezzi
• Ixor
• Maknongan

[listener]

another collection, very much like the Naxos one mentioned earlier:
Debussy, Ibert, Villa-Lobos, Glazunov, Richard Rodney Bennett, Dave Heath
John Harle, sax,   ASMF,  Marriner    1991 recording on EMI

The Debussy was originally written with short phrases for the saxophone as an exercise for Elise Hall who suffered from the side-effects of an illness that affected her breathing.   Harle has re-orchestrated the piece.

There might be a recording of the 1951 concerto by Henk Badings available from Donemus who published the score.   

[pjme]

Terrific sax-solos in Frank Martin's celloconcerto and second pianoconcerto.

And, alas, plenty of Belgian concertos (Poot, Meulemans, Chevreuille, pieces for sax quartet & orchestra etc, sonatas, ballades, concerto for sax,piano & orchestra etc etc) that are not available! It is a shame...

great work : symphony for sax quartet and orchestra by dutch composer Otto Ketting.

[Moldyoldie]

FWIW, I always look forward to the saxophone bit in Ravel's Bolero. Some play it straight, some jazz it up a bit...and some jazz it up a lot!

If nothing else, a sax practically screams 20th century.