At 3:56 PM -0800 1/28/10, Lee Actor wrote:
The solo repertoire for "classical" saxophone is indeed on the thin side;
furthermore, even the best of this repertoire (e.g., Ibert, Glazunov. etc.)
tends toward a lighter or less serious treatment (for lack of a better term)
than composers often use when writing concertos for other
instruments. [snip] and given the expressive possibilities of the
instrument, I'm surprised that
more composers haven't written such pieces for it.
I can think of a couple of reasons, at least. Perhaps most
important, young composers are inundated (I hesitate to say
brainwashed) about the importance of orchestral instruments,
virtually all of which have histories (and repertoire!) going back
300 to 500 years. Certainly ensemble repertoire, and often solo
repertoire as well. The sax, pace those French composers who tried
to add it to the conventional orchestral instrumentarium, has never
become a regular member of the orchestra, especially when it's played
by a doubling clarinetist rather than a sax specialist when it IS
called for. (I wonder when the first sax professor was added to the
faculty of the Paris Conservatoire?)
Second, I do agree with whoever wrote that it has been too closely
associated with jazz through the majority of the 20th century, which
again might tend to scare "serious" composers away. Although I
wonder whether Hindemith wrote for it as he did for other
under-served instruments. (And any instrument which depends on
transcriptions of music written for other instruments is, by
definition, under-served.) Actually the violin had exactly the same
reputation in the first century of its existence, being considered a
dance instrument and best left for "professionals and other servants"
while the viola da gamba was considered the high class instrument
suitable for lady and gentleman amateurs.
And third, the almost unbreakable tradition of solo instrument
concertos (especially if one counts both 18th and 19th century works)
has been so very heavily skewed to piano first, then violin, with
cello in a lagging 3rd place and anything else being pretty much
invisible, has been awfully hard to buck. Pianists and violinists
grow up learning concertos and expecting, some day, to play them.
I'd guess that we're still a couple of generations away from sax
rising to that level of expectation, or having the repertoire to back
it up. And I'd also hazard a guess that the breakthrough will likely
come in wind ensemble music rather than orchestral. (Which once
again will relegate it to second class status in the minds of too
many living composers!)
But Lee is exactly right: it's an instrument whose expressive
possibilities have been explored more in jazz and in classical
chamber music than in a major classical solo role, which means that
it may be about time for the best players and the best composers to
get together and create the beginning of a 21st century repertoire
that will finally exploit the instrument's possibilities.
Then, of course, there was the negative influence of Carmen Lombardo!
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[email protected])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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