1. Lone Voices: The First Generation
The saxophone’s origin stories in its native France, goldrush-era Australia, and the United States, set to geopolitical tumult and a firming of the musical canon.
Hector Berlioz was an ally and champion of Adolphe Sax, and the first major composer to write for saxophone in an 1844 arrangement of this piece – albeit a solitary bass saxophone among clarinets and saxhorns. This 1987 arrangement by Jean-Marie Londeix, scored for twelve saxophones, offers glimpses of the characterisations Berlioz made of the instrument – ‘full, mellow, vibrant, of enormous strength’, and possessing ‘an imposing, papal calm’ among others – but is something of which Sax could only dream in the instrument’s troubled first generation.
Recorded at the Kenneth Myer Auditorium, Ian Potter Southbank Centre, University of Melbourne.
MCM Saxophone Ensemble Musical Director: Joseph Lallo.
Hector Berlioz, Chant Sacré (1844)
After appearing in the vibrant Promenade concerts of Louis-Antoine Jullien, saxophone virtuoso Ali Ben Sou Allé arrived in Geelong on Christmas Eve 1852, and performed to Australian audiences through to 1855. Sou Allé composed souvenirs from the many places he visited, including Ireland, South Africa, China, and Java, and later presented a compendium of these to the Prince of Wales. His dedications to Australia – Stephen Foster’s The Old Folks at Home and variations – and Manila – a bolero – sit together in this piece, which is prefaced by an introductory aria.
Recorded at Medley Hall, Carlton.
Piano: Jesika Clark.
Ali Ben Sou Allé, Souvenirs d’Australie et de Manille (1861)
Many items Sou Allé composed during his Australian sojourn are lost to time, however other pieces characteristic of his style been preserved. Sou Allé’s accessible, entertaining Caprice was first published in 1861.
Recorded at Medley Hall, Carlton.
Piano: Jesika Clark.