“Between Two Worlds” = Original Works for Saxophone and Organ” – Massimo Giacchetti, saxophone/Manuela Di Marco, organ – Dynamic Records CDS724 [Distr. by Naxos] 61:51, (6/26/2012) Tracklist follows ***:
Very unusual but mostly quite enjoyable.
This Italian recording of music for saxophone and organ has actually been out for a few years but I just recently came across it. I admit straight up I was not aware that any composer had written music for saxophone and organ, being the very unusual combination fraught with potential performance inconveniences that it is, and I admit that I was very skeptical.
Truth be told, I was not really enthralled with any of the pieces herein but I was also pleasantly surprised that the overall effect and the mesh of these two seemingly disconnected timbres was actually pretty entertaining. Compliments to all the composers here for scoring the music for the voices on organ and the exact saxophones (soprano and alto) whose partials and timbres sound almost ‘organ-like’ Giacchetti and Di Marco are both very fine players and this repertoire relies mainly on tone quality and melody rather than on the hypertechnical – I think for the better.
I found the works by Denis Bedard; Sonate I, Alarich Wallner; Ludium I-III and Italo Di Cioccio; Dialogue to be the most interesting. The other works present; those of Lamproye, Lioncourt and Paris rely on some older styles and forms to build on. The Rennaissance and Baroque templates in question are used skillfully and cleverly but I still found the other works – in particular those by Wallner and Di Cioccio – to be more engaging.
I think saxophonists, in particular, would find this collection and many of the particular compositions to be well worth exploring. I think that – even at the level of intriguing oddity – nearly everyone would find this disc interesting and worth your time.
Now I am quite curious and motivated to go find out how much music exactly is there for saxophone and organ.
Tracklist:
1-6 Andre Lamproye Hommage a Saint-Hadelin
7-9 Guy de Lioncourt Trois Melodies Gregoriennes
10-12 Denis Bedard Sonate I
13-15 Alarich Wallner Ludium I, II, III
16 Giorgio Paris Alia Modo, Ricercare sulla sequenza “Dies Irae”
17-19 Italo Di Cioccio Dialogue
—Daniel Coombs
