Saxophones are sexy.

 

Simple, holy truth

 

An instrument too ignored by composers - which is surprising, if one thinks of the sound of the oboe, by comparison ;-).

There aren´t that many relatively well-known solo saxophone concertos - Glazunov, Ibert, Villa Lobos are some of them.

Yoshimatsu also wrote one - and Pettersson´s 16th Symphony is a Sinfonia Concertante for the saxophone, but very expressionistic.

Denisov´s would be interesting to hear.

 

And of course, there is that nice solo in Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances. That makes a good case for the inherent beauty to be found in the timbre of the saxophone.

 

I think of it as a jazz instrument.

Is there some requirement for 'orchestratability' that makes the saxes an unwelcome challenge for classical composers?

 

I love saxophones so much that I have six of them - a soprano, three altos, a C melody, and a tenor.

I've heard that saxophones aren't used in orchestras because their overtones don't quite fit in. The saxophone is half brass and half woodwind, so that hybrid quality keeps them mostly at a distance. It doesn't make sense to me, but that's what I once heard.

 

I love saxophones so much that I have six of them - a soprano, three altos, a C melody, and a tenor.

I've heard that saxophones aren't used in orchestras because their overtones don't quite fit in. The saxophone is half brass and half woodwind, so that hybrid quality keeps them mostly at a distance. It doesn't make sense to me, but that's what I once heard.

Interesting. Maybe it's the combination of conical bore and 'semi-brassiness' that makes the overtones, ah, challenging for composers? the old brass 'band' clarinets sound OK to me. I hear no problem in the Debussy sax, but that may be because of Debussy.

 

I agree with Hilltroll about it being a Jazz instrument. Can't really imagine it being in a orchestra.

 

Have you heard Symphonic Dances? Makes a strong case for its potential in that arena.

 

I voted "generally positive" because I always like the saxophone in classical compositions, but not always in jazz music.

Here's a clip of "Legende" by Andre Caplet; this version is for saxophone with chamber orchestra.

Charles Koechlin wrote Etudes for saxophone and piano. Here's two of them:

Richard Rodney Bennett's saxophone concerto, split into 2 YT clips:

quatuor pour saxophones by Florent Schmitt:

Hope you enjoy!

 

I like very much the sound of the sax quartets. Have a dozen works, and all really lovely pieces. There were even a recording of the complete Bach´s Art for saxes, but i never heard it.

 

Uh, do I need to post it here?

 

Saxes have such a beautiful tone and timbre

 

I like the sax in general (and have no problem with it being used in CM) but it must be said that it is an instrument that can sound really cheesy and crass when in the wrong hands - Kenny G, Spandau Ballet, UB40, Sade, Simply Red... I was especially dismayed when blues band George Thorogood and the Destroyers decided to use a sax player - totally surplus to requirements.

 

Clavi already knows this, but I've just never really liked the timbre of saxophone. I can appreciate very good saxophonists and admire their playing, I just don't like the instrument. I guess I'm an exception.

 

You probably aren't 'an exception' (unless of course you want to be ). There must be a significant number of folks who are uncomfortable with the overtones. Even I, who listens to jazz, have an 'adjustment period' during which those distract me.

 

I consider it a jazz instrument as well.

However...there are exceptions.

 

I consider it a jazz instrument as well.

However...there are exceptions.

John Coltrane, Gigi Gryce, and Coleman Hawkins are in the same room, and he comes up with this?

 

I don't generally like sax much in jazz or classical, maybe they just sound too much like distressed geese. Sounds much better in ska, punk or Fela jammin

 

I like their use in Vaughan Williams' symphonies, music of Gershwin and Ravel's Bolero and orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition.

Best regards, Dr

PS Oh, and in jazz of course, especially with vibrato.

 

Try some Trane and a lot of Desmond! :cheers:

 

I hate it when this instrument is played so that it's supposed to sound sexy. I'm sure it can be played in other, better ways, but even thinking about the sound of the "sexyphone" makes my stomach turn.

 

I have to admit, the whole sexy thing doesn't do it for me at all either.

 

When it sounds "slimy" and "cheap"... like in a TV coffee or chocolate commercial. I don't know how to describe it much better, I'm afraid. You feel that your emotions are being manipulated by surface, not substance.

 

Grainger and the Saxophone

Percy Grainger was a proponant of the saxophone.

He served as a saxophonist in an U. S. Army Band from 1917-1918.

In a letter he worte:

"Around 1904, Balfour Gardiner & I heard our first sax-reed (a tenor) near Frome, Somerset. A man in a country band played one to us. And I knew then & there that I was hearing the world's finest wind-tone-tool - the most voice-like, the most mankind-typed."

See: http://www.totheforepublishers.com/grainger8.html

 

The WRONG kind of sexy sax - syrupy, cheesy, over-smooth. Think of the sax break in Manhattan Transfer's Chanson D'Amour (but as that was a pastiche I'll let it go) or the intro to Harden My Heart by Quarterflash. Then there's the theme to TV's Poirot - almost makes me retch.

The RIGHT kind of sexy sax - any solo that's actually capable of enhancing the music even if the music's already good (i.e. Bobby Keys on the Stones' Brown Sugar, Dick Parry on Pink Floyd's Us & Them, Chris Wood on Traffic's Tragic Magic etc.

 

The WRONG kind of sexy sax - syrupy, cheesy, over-smooth. Think of the sax break in Manhattan Transfer's Chanson D'Amour. Then there's the theme to TV's Poirot - almost makes me retch.

T

I just pulled up the Manhattan Transfer. Wow, they usually have better musicians than that. As far as Poirot, I won't comment on the theme itself, but I actually like the tone of the Alto player. And I think it's a nice touch to have a theme song for a Belgian detective played on an instrument invented by a Belgian.

 

There is a right kind, thank you for reminding me as I got swept up in a Xaltotun's vision of the sexy sax, which also hit home. Bobby Key's Brown Sugar is actually something I used to really get into when I much younger, so I obviously do not have an intinctual distaste for the more seductive aspects of a sax's timbre.

 

I remember the first time I saw Poirot. I couldn't help but insult the music! Perhaps it has a little charm though.

 

If it has then sadly it's still lost on me! Manxfeeder mentioned the Belgian connection between Poirot and the instrument - that was clever example of using 'ze little grey cells' but I wouldn't know whether the programme producers intended it or not.

 

I vote no. Their timbre is aesthetically pleasing on a surface level, but not evocative of anything other than jazzyness. Likely at least partially a cultural association but that's not a bad thing, it makes it very effective in other types of music

 

You have to realize that there is an entirely different tonal approach to classical saxophone than there is to jazz saxophone. Judging from some of the responses, it sounds like some of you are envisioning sticking Charlie Parker in the middle of an orchestra. This, of course, wouldn't work. It's an effective instrument in classical ensembles IF played appropriately.

 

Yeah, Charlie Parker's sound worked when he stood in front of an orchestra.

 

"A gentleman is someone who can play the saxophone but doesn't."