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Sax Ecosse

Morgan's Music Shop

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Original listing

Review by Alistair Massey

The saxophone quartet Sax Ecosse made a return visit to St Mary's Church on Saturday in a concert that was technically dazzling, engagingly informative and musically challenging for both performers and listeners. Karen Dufour (soprano saxophone) introduced the members of the quartet and each performer gave a "musical twirl" to show off their instrument's particular character. On the alto saxophone was Michelle Melvin; Gillian Skingley, a former pupil of Cults Academy, gave a flourish on the tenor saxophone and Lynsey Payne went down to the depths with her baritone saxophone. The group was founded in 2004 and are all former students of the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. As well as concerts, they have been involved in many educational workshops.

As Karen explained, the saxophone has only existed for a century and a half so many pieces have to be specially arranged for it. The opening piece, the Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV.536 by J. S. Bach was originally written for organ. It features a double fugue, a Bach speciality. Here the lively first theme and the tensely chromatic second theme are separately developed and then combined to conclude the piece. The quartet skilfully balanced each part to display the polyphonic craftsmanship.

In contrast to this were the Six Bagatelles by György Ligeti, a Hungarian who emigrated to Austria during the Budapest Rising. Now free from state control, he specialised in the "colour" of music. Stanley Kubrick of Space Odyssey 2001 fame used his music for his films. The pieces were little canvasses that conjured up experiences and emotions in a jokey way, though the final Bagatelle was unsettling with its persistent augmented fourths. This interval is nicknamed the "devil's interval". Perhaps it depicted a horror movie — after all the composer was born in Transylvania!

The quartet's favourite Holberg Suite of 18th century style dances by Grieg finished the first half. The next piece was the Allegro de Concert, the first piece specifically composed for saxophone by Englishman Florio in 1879 for a group of players in New York. Then a wander in the French countryside was evoked by a Theme and Variations by Gabriel Pierné, a composer of the early 20th century whose music is now almost unknown. This charming piece was handled beautifully.

For the finale, Sax Ecosse displayed their virtuosity and energy with the exhilarating and rhythmically complex Quartet No.3 by Barbara Thomson. As she suffers from Parkinson's disease, the composer subtitled her work as Body Language and references to her illness are embedded in the score. In the musical texture, jazz idioms were prominent but there were influences from a number of cultures such as South America and the Middle East. After the appreciative applause a Hungarian dance by Ferenc Farkas, Ugros, was played as an encore. These wild dances were used by recruiting parties to entice young men into the Hungarian army... so beware!

The next Inverurie Music Concert will feature Madeleine Mitchell (violin) and Nigel Clayton (piano) on Saturday 3 November in Kemnay Church Centre at 8pm. See www.inveruriemusic.co.uk for details.

Photos by John Hearne

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