Reveries: Saxophone and Organ V ADW 7364 [CF]: Classical CD Reviews- August 2005 MusicWeb-International

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Rêveries: Saxophone and Organ V
CHARPENTIER Prélude (Te Deum) [2.18]
ELGAR Largamente (Pomp and Circumstance March) [2.02]
SAINT-SAËNS Le Cygne [3.02]
FRANCK Prélude [3.14]
FAURÉ Pie Jesu (Requiem) [3.18]
BACH Three minuets [4.40]; Badinerie (Suite No.2) [1.37]
BAIWIR Planète océan (1987) [3.15]
VIVALDI Largo (Winter from Four Seasons) [2.48]
GRIEG Solveig’s Song [4.15]
VIVALDI Adagio (violin concerto in A minor) [2.48]
SATIE Gymnopédies 1 and 3 [2.48]
CLARKE Trumpet tune [3.07]
RACHMANINOV Vocalise [4.59]
BOZZA Chanson à bercer (1964) [3.03]
BACH Aria (Prepare thyself Zion - Xmas Oratorio) [5.16]; Bist du bei mir [2.42]; Louré (cello suite) [3.04]
CIMAROSA Larghetto (oboe concerto) [2.53]
RORIVE Novummonasterium (1976) [4.18]
BACH Gavottes (Suite No.3) [3.47]
Jean-Pierre Rorive (soprano saxophone)
André Lamproye (organ)
Recorded at Studio Récital, Liège, Eglise du Sacré-Coeur de Robermont et Eglise St-Remy de Huy in 1996
PAVANE RECORDS ADW 7364 [71.38]

Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Tune on track 13 snapped me out of the stupor into which I had drifted during the previous dozen. At this point the first and last notes of the sopranino saxophone sounded more like the last cries of a chicken being garrotted than a musical instrument. The ‘V’ after the words ‘Saxophone and Organ’ in this disc’s title is the Roman numeral five, so the rather worrying implication is that there are four more out there. If anyone has them, then you might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb and go for this fifth one. The list of works on the 21 tracks says it all; they are all tunes we know and love, but surely not Land of hope and glory in the hands of these two instruments? Regrettably yes, and a lot more besides perishes in this massacre by arrangement, not least Bach who is singled out for no less than half a dozen. What on earth did he do to deserve this? Prepare thyself Zion indeed, and so should any unsuspecting listener. There is a brain-numbing moderato tempo throughout, relieved just occasionally by a brisker speed (J.S.B’s Badinerie from his flute suite for example), but worse is the highly limited colour achieved by this combination, even though three types of saxophone (alto, soprano and sopranino) and various organ registrations are used in an endeavour to do so. The title ‘Rêveries’ is a misnomer, it should be ‘Cauchemars’.
Christopher Fifield

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