May 2009
800 Sax Players Invade London Streets
The City of London Festival will be hosting a special event involving 800 saxophone players processing through London streets playing a new piece by John Harle.
Details of the event can be found here. So if you're in London on June 21st, this might be something to check out.
Hey, if you will be around there, may as well join the mob.
April 2009
Steve Reich's Slapping Music
Taimur Sullivan has posted a neat little video animation clip with a performance of Steve Reich's Slapping Music on bass sax.
You can view the clip here.
Berio's Sequenza VIIb
Musimediane, which is a multimedia magazine focused on musical analysis and research has published its fourth installment. In it is a fascinating piece by Pierre Michel discussing Luciano Berio's Sequenza VIIb for soprano saxophone. (Link to article)
The conference is laid out in a series of brief video clips where Michel explains some structural features of the piece. It also includes him playing brief excerpts on a curved soprano and his explanation of why he chose to play it on that instrument. The video clips are in French and in English.
If you are in anyway interested in Berio's music, this is a must see.
Londeix still at work
Anyone who has ever encountered the French master Jean-Marie Londeix will recognize his intense passion for his instrument and the music in this series of pictures from a recent master class given at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux.
March 2009
Saxophone on Radio-France
All of this week, Miniatures, a short daily show on the Radio-France network, will feature music for the saxophone. Of course, the show is in French. You can listen to the broadcast thru its web page Miniatures. You'll also a link to a podcast for the show.
The first show featured an excerpt of a performance of Debussy's Rapsodie with Kenneth Radnovsky and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur.
Saxophonist Nicolas Prost and composer Denis Levaillant are interviewed by the shows hostess, Cécile Gilly.