Sax Players

Who in this group in a classical saxophonist? I'm just curious as to what all of your favorite pieces are? How long have you been playing? Teachers names?

My formal training is in classical sax performance. been playing for about 15 years.

My favorite performance piece is probably the Glazunov concerto. Played that in concert and for my final exam when I was studying in a conservatory in Canada when I was 18, and to this day, it remains the piece I am most fond of performing live.

I've never had an opportunity to play the Iber concertino with an orchestra, but it's a nice piece that I wish I'll someday have the chance to play. Accompanied by a piano just isn't the same...

Anything by Pierre Max Dubois is usually great. I'm kind of tired and and have bad memory when it comes to names of pieces I've played....

if I think of something else, I'll come back

I'm still young, but the favorite piece I've played so far is also the Glazonouv Concerto.

The most fun piece I've played is the 3rd mvmt. of the Gurewich Concerto. I like to take that piece as fast as I can just for fun.

And been playing for nearly 8 years.

Ah the Glaz! I played that my freshman year in college! Great piece! In grad school I did both of the Crestons (Concerto and Sonata), the Ibert Concerto and several of the Ryo Noda works.

Another piece that is often overlooked is the Bernhard Heiden Sonata. I played this my junior year and it is just a fun, mid-level piece to play. I've also done the Tableaux by Maurice and the

I've been playing saxophone since 6th grade (roughly 1991) and have studied with:

Dr. Andrew Dahlke

Tom Luer

Curt Wilson

Cecilia Smith

Dr. Chris Bade

All in all I have two degrees in music: a bachelors in music ed: saxophone and masters in saxophone performance. I also play quite a bit of jazz as well.

Rock on saxes!

i major in clarinet & i do a bit of saxophone too.. i have to say bozza's pieces are really interesting for both instruments.

The Maurice Tableaux is probably my favorite to play. I'm not a large fan of the Milhaud Scaramouche. But I pretty much love the Creston Sonata. There is another piece that i want to learn for soprano by Giofranco Gioia. I'll attach it to this post. It is amazing.

I've been playing for a little over 10 years. And study with Dan Goble at Western Connecticut State University.

This link has the mp3 Partitions gratuites : Gioia, Gianfranco - Suite (Soprano saxophone, Piano)

[Free-scores.com]_gioia-gianfranco-suite-7476.pdf

My g/f teaches sax to young kids (and clarinet, flute and some piano). Can't stand much of the instrument myself (sounds like a trumpetclarinet to me...), but I enjoy Muczynski's concerto.

I also enjoy these:

YouTube - Creston Sonata, Op. 19 - Mvt. II: Performed by me!

I started on saxophon and quickly developed a harsh dislike of the instrument. But it was revived when I listened to van Dijk's Bass Saxophon concerto.

Simply insane.

PS. not really insane but i love it.

That bass saxophone concerto is definitely different. I don't think I would like playing it mostly because I would always feel that I was being overpowered by the orchestra behid me.

That bass saxophone concerto is definitely different. I don't think I would like playing it mostly because I would always feel that I was being overpowered by the orchestra behid me.

Well that could be a problem. Mind you the saxophon is still young in terms of its been aroundness and its repertoire in classical music is somewhat limited. then again you're talking to a now full blown bassoonist. Prokofiev if I recall wrote some interesting saxophon parts on occassion, the one that hits me the most right now being "The Dance of the Knights" (Montagues and Capulets sometimes is what it's also called). Ravel also uses it in Bolero (a composer and piece I have strong grudges against) and apparently (according to wiki) as a part in Leonard Bernstein's west side story. if that's true or not i can't guarentee it, but I wouldn't be surprised either.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

I'm new to the forum, but, as you can probably guess from my name, I'm a classical saxophonist. I've only been playing for 5 or 6 years though, so I'm a relative beginner to a lot of people here. My favorite pieces for the saxophone would have to be the Glazunov concerto, the Larsson concerto, Tableaux de Provence, and just about everything written by Dubois or Creston. As a composer I also tend to write a lot for the sax - I've written a suite of dances for saxophone and piano, I frequently use saxophones in orchestras, and my current project is a saxophone concerto.

I am a sax player as well who does both classical and jazz. I remember liking the Creston so much when I first discovered it and then finding all the other standards such as the Tableaux, Glazunov, and so on. Now I have come across so much sax rep and played so much of it I have found many to call "favorites". As for writing sax music, I tend to include it in orchestral works but I hardly ever write a solo piece for it.

Classical Sax id like to see your concerto when u finish it.

Sonata, by Lawson Lunde. Great piece.

I've been playing sax since the 5th grade (1964). While obtaining my BA in Music Ed (K-12), I did both a Junior and Senior recital on sax as well as a Jan Term project arranging Glaz for Band with follow-up public performance in the Bethlehem, PA Rose Garden with the Moravian College Band. I also did an honors paper on musical composition. Never could earn much playing sax, so I currently limit my sax playing to recitals each year with the local music club.

Besides the usual suggestions (Ibert, Debussy, Creston, etc.), you may find audiences receptive to the following:

Concerto for sax and orchestra by Erland von Koch (my favorite - need a good altissimo)

Arioso and Presto for Alto Sax and Band by James Barnes

Introduction and Samba by Maurice C Whitney

Diversion by Bernhard Heiden (with cadenza by Eugene Rousseau)

Escapades by John Williams

Fantasia for Soprano or Tenor Sax by Heito Villa-Lobos

Pequena Czarda by Pedro Iturralde

Saxema by Rudy Widoeft (or anything else by him - loads of old-time fun)

Deux Caprices en Forme De Valse by Paul Bonneau (Part 2 is typically done unaccompanied)

Fantasia Concertante by Bernhard Heiden (need a good altissimo)

Scaramouche by Darius Milhaud

The Glaser-Rascher arrangement of The Carnival of Venice

The above should provide you with sufficient challenge and please most audiences (if done well). I, too, welcome any suggestions for challenging, crowd-pleasing saxophone works. I'm not a big fan of multi-phonics or other strange noises. My favorite saxophonists include Sigurd Rascher, Eugene Rousseau, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, Lenny Pickett and Kenny G (especially LIVE - improvises beyond what you would expect, has phenomenal breath control including circular breathing and a signature tone). I also tend to rank players with better tone higher than those who seem to focus on speed.

...My favorite saxophonists include ...Kenny G (especially LIVE - improvises beyond what you would expect, has phenomenal breath control including circular breathing and a signature tone).

Are you serious?!

Are you serious?!

YES. Did you ever see him LIVE? Don't judge him just on his recordings or what some naysayers want you to think. Buy a ticket and sit through one of his concerts, if you have the chance. I formed a totally new opinion of him after I saw him doing his stuff LIVE. He's the real deal. Just my 2 cents.

Do you question my opinion regarding any of my other choices? Do you have examples of players you prefer?

Did you ever see him LIVE? Don't judge him just on his recordings or what some naysayers want you to think. ...He's the real deal. Just my 2 cents.

I have no desire to see him live.

I first heard him a number of years ago playing as a sideman with Jeff Lorber when they opened a concert for my band. My impression was that he was someone who had spent a fair amount of time listening to the more pop oriented sax players of that time...but was not really an advanced player' date=' even in that style. He had major rhythmic problems and his harmonic and melodic vocabulary was extremely limited, mostly to pentatonic based and blues-lick derived patterns, and he basically exhibited only a rudimentary understanding of how to function as a professional soloist in an ensemble ...

But he did show a knack for connecting to the basest impulses of the large crowd by deploying his two or three most effective licks (holding long notes and playing fast runs - never mind that there were lots of harmonic clams in them) at the key moments to elicit a powerful crowd reaction (over and over again). The other main thing I noticed was that he also, as he does to this day, played horribly out of tune - consistently sharp. [/quote']

That, plus the disturbing arrogance to overdub himself on top of Louis Armstrong has put Kenny G WELL below anything I consider worth putting any effort into checking out.

He's not the real deal; he's a charlatan and highly business savvy, but a mediocre saxophonist. There's nothing creative or artistic about what he does.

Do you question my opinion regarding any of my other choices? Do you have examples of players you prefer?

I don't recognize the others. Paul Desmond, Stan Getz. Nice tone, though certainly not innovative or highly developed improvisors.

Dig: John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Lester Young, Wayne Shorter, David Liebman, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Cannonball Adderly, Dewey Redman, Jan Garbarek, Coleman Hawkins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, John Zorn, Steve Lacy...I could go on for days.

Harvey Pittel, Eugene Rousseau and Claude Delangle have to be my favorite players ever. I don't really listen to much jazz so I can really only go with Coltrane, sonny, and branford.

I've been playing for four or five years; I'm a freshman in high school right now. My favorite pieces are Tableaux de Provence (although I still can't play the pesky fifth movement up to tempo), Bozza's Aria, Gurewich's Concerto (it's simply a fun piece to play), Creston Sonata, Jacobi Sonata, Glazunov Concerto, and Introduction and Samba.

Introduction and Samba is probably the hardest out of any of those. Insane altissimo, tonguing, and runs. It's very hard to make it all sound good, even the melodic parts.

I'm a Commercial/Electronic Music major at Western Carolina Univ. I play classical sax but am mainly a jazz sax performer.

I've played all the great pieces such as the Ibert, the Tableaux, the Creston, but I'd have to say that my favorite of all time is Escapades by John Williams (from the movie Catch Me If You Can).

I'm working it up now for my Junior Qualifying, and I have to say that the 3rd movement is a killer- but it's a great piece.