Sonor Saxophone Quartet Presented by Liszt Academy

For the audience of the Liszt Academy, a saxophone quartet might seem exotic. However, compositions have been written for this formation for more than 170 years. The program of the Sonor Saxophone Quartet includes works from various periods, ranging from Romantic pieces to contemporary works, including original compositions for this apparatus and arrangements. Belgian composer Jean-Baptiste Singelée, writing in the Romantic period, composed his Saxophone Quartet No. 1 in 1857, making it one of the first pieces in the genre. This is followed by a piece by French composer Eugène Bozza, which opened new perspectives on the wind sound that became his signature. Guillermo Lago’s (originally Willem van Merwijk) 2010 composition has since become a standard work in the saxophone quartet repertoire. After two almost visual “character pieces” by Debussy, the first movement of Glazunov’s Saxophone Quartet (1932) will be performed – a work written with a romanticism that already seemed anachronistic in his time, for the French Guard. The concert will close with two contemporary saxophone pieces: one evoking the tango world associated with Astor Piazzolla, and the other paying tribute to Rossini.