Category: Symphonic / Orchestral , Chamber Music , Recordings
The saxophone quartet CLAIR-OBSCUR located in Berlin in forms of orchestral music and chamber music....with special guest English horn-soloist Dominik Wollenweber (Berlin Philharmonics). Surely the highlight BERLIN PUNK for 4 Saxes and large symphony orchestra... but not less impressive CRI MUET, a protest music against terrorism Paris 2015.... and two works of chamber music with historical dimensions: a homage à J.S.Bach and a homage to the renaissance composer Don Luis Milan. Recorded with Siberian State Symphony Orchestra / conductor: Vladimir Lande in Krasnoyarsk (July 2018)as well as in Andreaskirche Berlin (September 2018)
Movements: 1 CRI MUET (in memoriam 13-11-2015)
pour saxophone soprane, choeur et orchestre
AS TIMES GO BYE - Suite in memoriam J. S. Bach
for Saxophone Trio
2 Prelude
3 Courante
4 Sarabande
5 Gigue
6 PAVANE – Variationen über einen Tanz aus
El Maestro (1536) von Luis de Milán
für Englischhorn und Saxophonquartett
BERLIN PUNK. Concerto for Saxophone Quartet & Orchestra
7 Spiked Saxes
8 Moon over Alexanderplatz (...wir lassen dich nicht allein)
9 Police Rats (...Bullenjagd)
10 Toxic Love (...von Suizid-Susie aus Kreuzberg)
11 Fun-Punk (...Schizo grellbunt)
© Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG (2-6) / © Ries & Erler Musikverlag Berlin (1, 7-11)
clair-obscur, saxophone quartet
Jan Schulte-Bunert, soprano (6-11) / Maike Krullmann, alto (2-11) /
Christoph Enzel, soprano (1) – tenor (2-11) / Kathi Wagner, baritone (2-11)
Dominik Wollenweber, Englischhorn (6)
Choir „Tebe Poem“, Konstantin Yakobson (choralmaster) (1)
Siberian State Symphony Orchestra, Krasnoyarsk (1, 7-11)
conductor: Vladimir Lande
Ersteinspielungen / First recordings
Introduction: Light and Dark, Loud and Soft Extreme Contrast and Expressive Intensity
When the Belgian instrument builder Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1840 and patented it in France on 21 March 1846, no one could have anticipat- ed the phenomenal success of this new family of instruments (ranging from bass to soprano). At the very latest by 1929 – as Afro-American jazz was spreading the sound of the saxophone throughout the world and Henri Selmer took over Sax’s Paris workshop and patents – it was clear that of all the instruments devel- oped during the 19th century, the saxophone would be the most significant. The saxophone’s charm, expressivity, wildness, and magic would become an impor- tant element not only in jazz (with countless legendary soloists) as well as dance music, salon music, and even hip-hop, but also in the world of orchestral and chamber music.
The quartet “clair-obscur” is a phenominal ensemble that for more than 15 years has cultivated and promoted the broad range of music written for the sax- ophone. The members of the group are also active as soloists performing with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, and appear as both musicians and actors in theater productions. Since the time of the Renaissance, the term “clair- obscur” has been used to describe the use of extreme contrasts of light and dark in works of art to achieve a dramatic intensification of expression, and this exact- ly describes the works collected on this recording. In addition to the source material from past masters such as Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) and Luis de Milán (1500–1561), the aggressive and vital aesthetic of punk music comes into play, and in Cri Muet, contrast is employed as a stylistic element when the 2015 terror attacks in Paris are juxtaposed with the serene slow movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
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Additional remarks: Recordings:
29.6. – 3.7.2018 in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia / Philharmonic Hall (1, 7-11)
Recording & Editing: Alexei Baraschkin, St. Petersburg
Sound assistant: Regina Ablyaziha, Roman Dergachev
19.-20.9.2018 in Berlin/ Andreas-Kirche (2-6)
Recording & Editing: PEGASUS AUDIO Florian B. Schmidt/Aki Matusch
Mastering: 30.10.2018 CYBELE-RECORDS Ingo Schmidt-Lucas
WERGO, a division of SCHOTT MUSIC & MEDIA GmbH/Germany. Distribution by NAXOS
LC 00846
Records: WERGO, 2019
Performers on recording: clair-obscur, saxophone quartet
mit:
Jan Schulte-Bunert, soprano (6-11) / Maike Krullmann, alto (2-11) /
Christoph Enzel, soprano (1) – tenor (2-11) / Kathi Wagner, baritone (2-11)
special guest.
Dominik Wollenweber (Berliner Philharmoniker), Englischhorn (6)
Choir „Tebe Poem“, Konstantin Yakobson (choralmaster) (1)
Siberian State Symphony Orchestra, Krasnoyarsk (1, 7-11)
conductor: Vladimir Lande
