NEW CENTURY SAXOPHONE QUARTET
Main Street USA
Morton Gould (1913-1996) arr. James Boatman
Pavane · Main Street Waltz · Main Street March
George Gershwin (1898-1937) arr. James Boatman
Clara, Clara · Oh, I Got Plenty O'Nuttin' · Bess, You is My Woman Now · Oh, I Can't Sit Down · Summertime · There's A Boat dat's Leavin' For New York · Oh Lawd, I'm On My Way · Promenade · Three Quarter Blues · Merry Andrew
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) arr. James Boatman
(Selections from West Side Story)
I Feel Pretty · Balcony Scene (Tonight) · Cha-Cha/Meeting Scene/Jump · One Hand, One Heart · Gee, Officer Krupke · Scherzo · Somewhere
Michael Stephenson soprano sax · James Boatman alto sax
Steven Pollock tenor sax · Brad Hubbard baritone sax
Steve Kirkman percussionCHANNEL Crossings CCS 9896
[55:32] full-priceby Soo Kian Hing
Saxophone quartets, though having been popular in America for quite some time, are only catching on in the local music scene not so long ago, having been regarded as nothing more than a 'fun' pastime for amateur band members, or having a place only in jazz bars playing black man's music. Personally, after hearing my own friends perform 'live' as a saxophone quartet, I have an extremely high regard for this unique ensemble, that can be extremely hip but extremely serious at the same time!
All the more, then, would I welcome this recording, especially coming from a highly-acclaimed group, the New Century Saxophone Quartet. New Century is the only saxophone quartet to win First Prize of the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition in its 45 years, besides having a huge long string of credentials and accolades attached to it. All the pieces on this recording were arranged by the saxophonist, James Boatman, and he has taken great pain to make sure these do not turn out to be cheesy elevator music, giving technically demanding transcriptions that are extremely difficult to play well. And indeed, these pieces preserve the original spirit of the compositions, with the added pleasure of hearing them anew: there is something about a saxophone's sound that can stop a musician's heart.
Morton Gould (left) really should be heard more, being a contemporary American composer that is relatively neglected by the classical community. He wrote much music in the style of Ragtime, Jazz and Big Band, and here Boatman has adapted three attractive short pieces. The first, Pavane, was written in 1938 as part of the composer's American Symphonette No.2. The relentless 'walking' rhythm in the baritone saxophone provides the drive while the soprano carries the easy-going melody, without losing a deeper nostalgia where called for, and the inner voices fill in with syncopated chords which helps the melody to float. An opening piece that would open the eyes (or ears) of those who have never heard a saxophone quartet before; incidentally, this was the same style that had made such an indelible impression on me when I first heard my friends' quartet.
Main Street Waltz and Main Street March are taken from Gould's film score for the film World War I, depicting, respectively, a happy and worry-free pre-war America, and an idealistic American nation marching into war without realising its full consequences. Percussionist Steve Kirkman adds to the atmosphere with glockenspiel, drums, cymbals and xylophone. The soprano is dreamily sweet in the Waltz, and in the March the saxophones are as rousing as a full marching band in parade.
The other two American composers on this recording, George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, should be no strangers to Inkpot fans, having been extensively ink-troduced by Adrian Tan, our resident Gershwin-Bernstein guru. This CD compiles songs from the two composers' representative operas: Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and Bernstein's West Side Story.
The major showstopping songs from Porgy and Bess have been transcribed without losing any of the emotionality as the composer had infused in them. The lack of thick cumbersome orchestration considerably lightens up the arrangement and gives the lonesome melancholy plenty of airing, a trait always inherent in Gershwin songs; matched by the saxophone's silky-smooth but richly soulful voice, the darker blues and slow ballads are given even more character and soul. In the faster gay pieces as well, the brassy piping of the instruments, when played loud, equally match the merriness of Gershwin's get-up-and-go Catfish Row numbers.
The three miscellaneous Gershwin songs start with Promenade, written one year before he died at 39. It is an intimate but bouncy piece, full of good humour and adulation, used in the Astaire-Rogers film Shall We Dance. The soprano is suitably perky and quirky without losing that Gershwin melancholic smile. Three-Quarter Blues is a brief but extremely beautiful piece, with the saxophone choir and vibraphone setting a serene mood. Merry Andrew jolts like a jazzed-up square dance number, again given a lively and good-natured treatment by New Century.
Bernstein's West Side Story contains so many memorable tunes that a continuous medley of all of them would be quite exhausting. In his arrangement separated into seven sections, James Boatman strives for as orchestral an arrangement as possible, by no means an easy feat since the complexity and intricacy of Bernstein's scoring is notorious. Yet, New Century, with the help of various percussion effects from Kirkman, achieves to this end a tightly-woven and sensitive reading of various selections from Bernstein's most popular work. Though the soprano saxophone carries most of the melodies and does them more than adequate justice in expressivity, the rest of of the ensemble contribute their fair share of inner voices and vital rhythm that keep the story chugging along, as our modern-day Romeo and Juliet play out their beautiful tragedy.
"One Hand, One Heart" has always been my personal favourite amongst the ballades, both for its hymn-like religiosity, and for the serene dream-like state in which time literally stops while Maria and Tony recite their vows. Various dance sequences and the rowdy "Gee, Officer Krupke" are injected to avoid over-romanticising the mood. However, one song that I felt should have been included, to complete the sequence, was "America".
This recording is not only suitable for saxophone or Gershwin/Bernstein aficionados; the sound of a perfectly-blended saxophone quartet is greater than the sum of its parts, and moreover Boatman has given us such arragements that can actually qualify as chamber music. Prepare to be spellbound by the meticulous ensemble-work of this talented group that is winning acceptance for saxophone quartets, as they end quietly with the chords, "... a place for us. Somehow, Someday, Somewhere!"
More Gershwin! Dayful of Song - Premiere Recording | Porgy and Bess - an Ink-troduction | Feinstein Sings Gershwin | Gershwin: Remembrance & Discovery | The VoxBox Complete Gershwin An Inkpot Tribute to Lenny | West Side Story | Lenny conducts Stravinsky | Lenny conducts Sibelius | Bernstein - Recommended Recordings | Selected Readings | Sony Bernstein Century Overview
Soo Kian Hing is back from his pilgrimage to Salzburg and Vienna... and is suffering from a serious lack of musical air. *gasp*
Back to the Classical Index!... or read more American music reviews from the Inkvault Archives!
545: 1.8.1999 İSoo Kian Hing
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