PAUL CRESTON (1906-1985): Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Band, Op. 26, INGOLF DAHL (1912-1970): Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Orchestra, JOHN CHEETHAM (b.1939): Concerto Agrariana for Alto Saxophone and Band, DAVID DEBOOR CANFIELD (b.1950): Martyrs for the Faith for Alto Saxphone and Symphonic Winds.
Catalogue Number: 07O069
Label: MSR Classics
Reference: MS 1359
Format: CD
Price: $12.98
Description: The Creston is an easy-going work, making the most of the tuneful flexibility and virtuosic energy of the solo instrument, lively and popular in idiom, with inflections of jazz and big-band music. Canfield's three movements each commemorates a Christian martyr - of the 2nd, 16th and 20th centuries, using hymns appropriate to each period as material. The first movement distorts its material through multiphonics and extended techniques, within a tonal framework; the second is a satirical march, while the third, commemorating a missionary killed in Ecuador, is based on a persistent Latin ostinato. The Cheetham is a celebration of pioneering rural Americana, with pastoral and rustic moods predominating in a thoroughly tonal idiom. The Dahl has much in common with neoclassical Stravinsky, Krenek and Milhaud (all colleagues of the composer in California), in three movements in traditional forms (the second a lyrical passacaglia). The outer movements are effervescent virtuosic solo vehicles, lively and appealing, the finale incorporating a vigorous cadenza. Kenneth Tse (sax), University of Iowa Symphony Band; Richard Mark Heidel, Ray Cramer (Canfield).