Musica Viva. Adelaide Town Hall. 10 Nov 2022
The acclaimed Germany-based Signum Saxophone Quartet is making its debut tour of Australia, and their playing and artistry is revelatory.
The quartet comprises Blaž Kemperle (playing soprano saxophone), Jacopo Taddei (alto), who is replacing Hayrapet Arakelyan on this tour, Alan Lužar (tenor), and Guerino Bellarosa (baritone). It is rare to see and hear classical saxophone on an Australian concert stage, let alone four of them. (Perhaps the last such concert in Adelaide was by Australian virtuoso saxophonist Amy Dickson with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra back in 2018?)
Tonight’s concert in the Adelaide Town Hall was enthusiastically received by the modestly-sized audience, and they likely didn’t really know what they were in for. This reviewer certainly wasn’t! What we got was a diverse program that included JS Bach’s Italian Concerto, Kurt Weill’s seldom-heard Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Gershwin’s Three Preludes, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances (from West Side Story), and Chick Corea’s Spain. All pieces were of course arrangements for saxophone quartet, with violin in the Weill.
Notably, the Weill concerto was arranged by well-respected Australian composer Jessica Wells as part of the Hildegard Project, which is an Australian initiative that advocates women composers. (Wells has orchestrated over seventy films, written chamber operas and underscores for plays, and …. the theme for ABC TV’s Q&A program!)
The concert began with Bach’s ever popular Italian Concerto, BWV971, which has been much arranged for other instruments. Originally written for a two-manual harpsichord, and nowadays mostly heard on piano, it is a three movement work in which Bach imitated the style of contrasting different instruments found in an ensemble. Tonight’s arrangement by Japanese saxophone virtuoso Katsuki Tochio captures Bach’s intent, especially in the allegro and andante movements, with stunning articulation, phrasing and dynamic control by the baritone and soprano saxophones. The presto movement is arguably the least successful arrangement, with individual voicing at times overemphasising the contrapuntal nature of the piece.
Kurt Weill is best known for his score of Threepenny Opera written by Bertolt Brecht, which includes the hit song Mack the Knife. He also wrote other satirical musicals for Broadway, such as The Seven Deadly Sins, and other iconic songs, such as Surabaya Jonny that is a favourite of various chanteuses (recently sung by Meow Meow in her Adelaide Cabaret Festival show Pandemonium). Weill’s violin concerto is altogether of a different ilk. Originally scored for violin and wind ensemble with percussion, it is a difficult composition to grapple with, at least on a first listening. It is largely atonal, punchy and percussive, and melody is excitingly elusive. Australian violinist Kristian Winther played the violin, with masterful displays of double stopping and deft bowing to produce diaphanous shimmering sounds in the serenata. The tussle between soloist and orchestra that is usually evident in a concerto was discernible in the final movement, but the saxophones never overshadowed the violin. The audience loved it.
The second half of the program contrasted compositions of Gershwin, Bernstein and Corea, and appealed to what we all instinctively think of as the ‘right type’ of music for saxophone. The arrangements, with some by ‘the Signums’ themselves (is that an acceptable abbreviation?) are superb. Gershwin’s Preludes were written for solo piano, and are strongly jazz infused requiring articulation and precision but with an extemporised ‘feel’. The Signum’s provided all of that in spade loads. The moodiness and sultriness of the andante prelude was just sublime.
Sylvain Dedenon’s arrangement of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances are first rate, and this evening’s performance was a standout. So good are the arrangements, and so accomplished is the playing by the Signums, that one could believe there were many more instruments on stage. For example, in Tonight, Kemperle on soprano saxophone produced sounds that were uncannily like a flute that captured the yearning nature of the song. The tempo in America was spirited and relentless, and the Signum’s demonstrated exquisite breath control and crystalline articulation. I Feel Pretty exuded coquettishness. Somewhere began with an evocative alto start, but the arrangement seems busier and more complex than needed, at least initially.
The concert finished off with an exciting arrangement of Chick Corea’s Spain, which begins with substantial quotations from Concerto de Aranjuez by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo before it metamorphoses into something that is more Latin infused. It finishes with an exuberant upbeat that seemingly asks a question begging to be answered, but isn’t except by the exuberant applause and whistling from a highly appreciative audience.
Again, Musica Viva has pulled another musical rabbit out of the bag. Superb programming!
Kym Clayton
When: Closed in Adelaide
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: musicaviva.com.au - Performances available in other states
