Since its creation in 1846, the saxophone has been one of the most obscure instruments in the classical world. You guys might wonder how can this be possible: the saxophone is such a popular instrument in the world of jazz and contemporary music. Famous composers such as Hector Berlioz advocated the use of saxophones in the orchestra, but classical purists have kept it from doing so. Without much support for the instrument in the classical world, the saxophone found its way into prominence from military bands and of course jazz. Today, the lack of great works for classical saxophone has allowed this trend to continue. William Robin, a writer for the New York Times, makes the point that there are numerous pieces by composers for saxophone; symphony orchestras, the focal point of spreading new music into the word, rarely play them. Even the most famous classical saxophone pieces are composed by rather obscure composers.
Meet John Adams, an acclaimed composer who is premiering his new saxophone concerto this Friday at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall of Baltimore. John Adams is not alien to classical saxophone; he composed a famous saxophone quartet for his opera “Nixon in China”. Timothy McAllister, a saxophone virtuoso and a professor at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern, will be the star of Friday’s saxophone concerto. He describes Adams’ composition to be “some of the hardest music I have ever played” (Robin). William Robin also describes in the article how the concerto will test the skills that McAllister has in playing the saxophone. John Adams thought of the idea of making such a concerto from listening to Sam Getz’s album Focus and Charlie Parker With Strings. He claims to be in love with the sound of the saxophone with strings. John Adams points this out when he says: “The sound of the saxophone with the orchestra, particularly with the string orchestra, is just magical,” (Robin). He hopes that his concerto will help boost the saxophone’s popularity in the classical world and will be as brilliant as a concerto by Mozart.
I, like John Adams, hope that the saxophone will become a more involved part of the orchestra. Coming from a performing arts high school, the chances for a saxophone to be in an orchestra are small. My school’s orchestra used a saxophone only once in all of my four years at high school; the role of the saxophone, however, was minuscule at best. Many of my friends played saxophone in bands and in jazz, but they never seemed to have a chance in playing it in classical music. Composer of the past avoided scoring a piece with saxophone for the most part, so the repertoire we played would not include a saxophone. I would love to see more diversity in instrumentation in classical music and I think that the saxophone deserves to be in an orchestra. It is a beautiful instrument that has appeared to make it in all other genres of music except for classical.
In case anyone is curious about the saxophone and how it sounds with strings, here are some links to some music:
Concertina da Camera by Jaques Ibert (Saxophone Concerto)
Saxophone Concerto in E Flat, Op. 109 by Alexander Glazunov
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/arts/music/classical-saxophone-an-outlier-is-anointed-by-john-adams-concerto.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=arts
When I first read about this, I was a little shocked and unwilling to embrace the saxophone in classical music. I believe that the reason one might find it hard to imagine a saxophone in the classical genre is because we strongly associate the saxophone with jazz music. Often the predominate voice in jazz pieces, there is a strong tie between the two. I also believe this difficult barrier to break has to do with the saxophones unique sound and facet as an american instrument while most classical composers look to european influences when composing. However, I’m glad to see the instrument move its way into other types of pieces. I really liked the links that you posted- I am slowly coming to like the sound of classical saxophone. I think that the saxophone’s unique voice lends itself and creates a new platform for classical music. Hopefully more composers step up to the challenging task of composing classical music for the saxophone. Who knows? Maybe we will start seeing new branches of classical music that can bud into unique genres of music.
I found this very intriguing. I never realized that the saxophone was basically left out of classical music. I believe that musical instruments are able to produce sound that can be played in any genre of music. I think it is possible to produce beautiful sounds of any sort, but this all depends on the creativity of the musician.
This reminds me of my piano teacher that I had from age 7-12. He played every instrument I think of. He was a true musician. He was able to listen to any song I showed him and would instantly be able to play in on the piano. His favorite instrument was the saxophone. He used to speak about how he played the saxophone in his band. Although I have never heard him play the sax I am sure he would be able to put a classical twist onto any song.
Because I am not so knowledgeable with classical music, I never even realized that the saxophone has been for the most part completely left out. However after the reading the article I think that it may be for the best that it is. When I think about it, the sound of the saxophone doesn’t exactly go with the other sounds of classical music and I see no reason to force it to. It’s not like the saxophone doesn’t shoe up at all in the musical world, the instrument is crucial to the genre of jazz as well as others.
While I respect your opinion of wanting to give saxophone players a chance to show their talent in classical music, I just feel like if it’s been left out for so long from one of the oldest and “classical” genres, adding it now will only make a new genre, instead of changing the current one.
I never realized the saxophone wasn’t included in classical pieces. Granted, I was a clarinet player in my high school’s band for all four years, and the number of classical pieces that we played was minimal compared to more modern pieces–sure, we played pieces like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, but pieces like New York, New York, Let It Snow, 25 or 6 to 4, and Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree were far more common. Our conductor always made sure that everyone was able to play each piece, even if they had to use another instrument’s different-but-similar-enough sheet music.
That’s probably why I never realized that saxophones weren’t included in classical orchestras, and the realization is kind of stunning, actually. I personally don’t see a reason why they can’t be included; my school band might not have been anything special, but we sounded just fine even when we played classical pieces and included the saxophone.
I’d like to see more saxophones in classical music, since I think it could work. However, I’d have to hear more classical pieces that include the instrument before I could really determine whether it’s a good fit.