Aurelia Saxophone Quartet – French Saxophones – 25 years jubilee album – DEBUSSY: Quartet in G minor; RAVEL: Quartet in F Major; ROUSSEL: Quartet in D Major; BOZZA: Andante et scherzo; DESENCLOS: Sax Quartet; FRANCAIX: Petit quatuor pour saxophones; RIVIER: Grave et presto; SCHMITT: Sax Quartet; PIERNE: Introduction and variations on a popular round – Challenge Classics CC72331 (2 CDs), 70:16, 59:09 ***** [Distr. by Allegro]:
This is an exceptional program – nearly 130 minutes of music for sax quartet. The 1990 recordings were previously issued separately on the Etcetera label. The Aurelia Quartet is perhaps best known for their path-breaking transcriptions of the Debussy and Ravel String Quartets. In making the transcriptions they consulted with renowned string players to ensure the transcriptions were as close as possible to the intentions of the string quartets. Both are simply gorgeous and would make it difficult for most listeners to choose between the originals and the sax versions if asked to pick a favorite. If a third French string quartet is combined with the Debussy and Ravel efforts, it is usually Faure’s, but it is good to hear Roussel’s again, and in this guise. All three quartets were composed in France about the same time and share similar musical atmospheres, though each is highly individual.
Although these three works on the first disc are highly successful transcriptions, the Aurelias decided later to create a disc of French music which was specifically composed for saxophone quartet. That’s not difficult, since the instrument is more popular and appreciated in the classical field in France – where it was invented – than in any other country. All the works were written mid-20th century and are vital portions of the repertory for sax quartets all over the world. Each of these half dozen works was commissioned by the noted French saxophone pioneer Marcel Mule for his Quatuor de Saxophones de la Garde Republicaine. Around 1930, together with Sigurd Rascher, Mule made a strong statement for the acceptance of the saxophone in contemporary classical music. The idea of making a package with the second CD – recorded about a year after the first – was for the Aurelias to point up a link between the work of the six French saxophone composers and the music of their three impressionist predecessors – heard in transcription.
– John Sunier
