Spotlight on Faculty Concert

Mark Kraszewski is relieved he doesn’t have to choose one style of performing so he came up with a concept of a concert for "both sides of the saxophone", which will feature the saxophone in both the classical and jazz idioms. The April 15th free concert begins at 7:30PM and is split roughly in half between classical music (solo and duo with piano) and jazz (a jazz quartet) that spans the spectrum from Baroque to late twentieth century, featuring the saxophone not only in a more traditional setting but also in an avant-garde context. Composers include J.S. Bach, Paul Creston, Marilyn Shrude, Christian Lauba, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and saxophone great Joe Henderson.

 

Willie LaFavor accompanies Mr. Kraszewski on piano in the first half and Kyle Voch, bass, John Wiesenthal, guitar, and Richard Felice, drums, complete the jazz quartet. The performance will be in the Performance Hall at Hochstein located at 50 N. Plymouth Avenue in downtown Rochester. An artist reception follows. For more information about this and Hochstein call 585-454-4596 or visit Hochstein.org.

 

From the musician, Mark Kraszewski: The program will begin with J.S. Bach's Partita in A Minor for solo Flute, transcribed for saxophone by Alain Bouhay. This piece is frequently performed on saxophone and is an example of the wealth of transcriptions of pieces that were written before the saxophone's invention in 1850. The second piece, Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (1939) composed by Paul Creston, is a staple of the classical saxophone repertoire. Infused with shadings of both french romantic harmony and perhaps even Ellington, this piece shows off the saxophone in its most traditional soloist role. The third piece, Renewing the Myth, by Marilyn Shrude is perhaps more theoretical as it uses quotations of standard saxophone repertoire and even alludes to Paganini's famous caprice no. 24. In turn, Marilyn Shrude has written a piece that encapsulates a great deal of the vocabulary that has developed throughout the history of solo saxophone repertoire. The last piece, Jungle by Christian Lauba, introduces the new era of avant-garde writing for the saxophone, while all the while being completely accessible. The reason for this is that within this very short piece, Christian Lauba employs all of the crazy timbral effects of the saxophone in order to represent sounds of the jungle. So the multi-phonics aren't necessarily foreign sounds, but the sounds of elephants, and the slap-tongues represent a wood-peckers. Through his program Christian Lauba makes this avant-garde idiom very accessible.

 

The jazz tunes were chosen as they were popularized by jazz greats who really featured the saxophone in their groups. This can be seen in Miles Davis' Four and Thelonious Monk's Straight, No Chaser. Recordame was composed and popularized by saxophone great Joe Henderson, one of the seminal figures in the history of the jazz tenor saxophone.

 

In drawing from this multifaceted, but certainly not disparate, array of styles I hope to both showcase and honor the unique versatility of the saxophone.