Vienna Saxophonic Orchestra (Artistic Director: Lars Mlekusch)
 from Austria Founded in 2009, the Vienna Saxophonic Orchestra is the first professional saxophone orchestra in Austria and one of a few in the world. Twelve saxophones, from sopranino to bass, merge into a colorful yet homogeneous sound which can be most subtle or extremely powerful. The VSO stands for exciting performances of contemporary music as well as surprisingly fresh interpretation of earlier music but always with the aim of performing at the highest possible artistic level. The collaboration with contemporary composers plays an important role in the working process. The VSO explores new sounds, unusual interpretations and is experimenting with new space situations. There are several award winners of major international competitions amongst the ensemble performers as well as other musicians who play with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Klangforum Wien. Lars Mlekusch, the Artistic Director, has established himself as an eminent saxophonist majoring in contemporary music. In 2005, he was appointed professor for saxophone, chamber music and contemporary music at the Konservatorium Wien University where he leads a highly successful international saxophone class. Mlekusch teaches masterclasses at many of the leading music institutions in the world and he has been on the jury at some of the most important saxophone competitions. He taught at the European Saxophone University in Gap (France) in 2011 and has been invited to return in 2012. |
Polychrome - Thierry AllaDespite its slow character, this piece is full of active tension: tension of a stretched string, tension of a spring, elastic tension, and a kind of electric tension - a powerful interior motion that shocks the piece to life from within. In addition to the musical tension, the composer's systematic use of quarter tone scales requires entirely new fingerings, which provides another type of tension: intellectual tension for the instrumentalists. By Jean-Marie Londeix
OtMoor II - Hannes KerschbaumerOtMoor is an area of wetland in Oxfordshire (England). Each year there may be observed immense flocks of birds drawing multidimensional sculptures in the sky.
The Sorcerer´s Apprentice - Paul DukasPaul Dukas wrote his most famous composition about the poem by Johann Wolfgang Goethe in 1897, 100 years after Goethe wrote this poem. The poem begins as an old sorcerer departs his workshop, leaving his apprentice with chores to perform. Tired of fetching water by pail, the apprentice enchants a broom to do the work for him - using magic in which he is not yet fully trained. Chaos ensues, and when all seems lost, the old sorcerer returns, quickly breaks the spell and saves the day. Dukas's work is descriptively programmatic, closely following the events described in the Goethe poem. Vincent David arranged this work for 12 saxophones!
Stormy Weather - Johannes BerauerThe title is descriptive on the one side, but also a reference to the great Jazzrock group Weather Report. The orchestra is roughly divided into three groups of 4 players. The highest group is made of 4 sopranos paying tribute to saxophone giant Wayne Shorter. The first section features the baritone sax as a soloist against slowly changing chord textures. The performer is free to either improvise or play a written out solo part. The second section of the piece is based on a repetitive groove borrowed (and modified) of a previous composition for bassoon and bass clarinet. Fasten your seatbelts! Johannes Berauer
Solastalgia - Duncan YoungermanSolastalgia is a natural outgrowth of ideas developed in music I wrote last year for solo saxophone (Stillicidium", for alto, and "F.M. Airs", for soprano) involving mostly single-voiced counterpoint, a technique well-liked by baroque composers as well as Central African traditional musicians. To apply these principles of 'complex simplicity' to this great ensemble of 12 is a sort of quantum leap for me, and something I could not have imagined a year ago. The neologism 'solastalgia' refers to the disturbing feelings caused by one's changed environment (as opposed to those of nostalgia caused by one's being away from it). This is music of both the disconcerting and exalting aspects of transformation" (Duncan Youngerman)
Rhea - Francisco Guerrero MarínWritten for 12 saxophones in 1988, Rhea is one of the first fruits of Francisco Guerrero Martín's application of fractal methods in composition. An almost unstoppable energy drives the music with great force, and an extreme density and complexity of the sounds characterizes this work. Guerrero discovered the possibility, particularly complex sonic networks created from simplest structures on the basis of the principle of "self-similarity" of fractals, with a model (and order) is auto-reproduced at different scales. Guerrero felt that many of today as "complex" described compositions in truth nothing more than "complicated" are. Complex is one thing, the wealth of detail in a sensual capture - allowing - synthetic and immediate. Our eyes recognize a tree or a mountain immediately as such. Looking at it with greater attention, they reveal an extremely wide range of internal structure (branches and leaves?). Despite this incredible wealth of detail obscures our direct perception of the "topiary" or the "mountain form" is not. Complexity, however, sets in when the detail takes precedence over the shape of the whole and complete perception impossible. His music may fascinate or repel us, but it can never be parked in a corner or be relegated to the back-ground. It occupies a central place from where it maintains its power and presence. (Stefano Russomanno) |
The VIDEOS |
