SINGELÉE - SCHMITT - GOTKOVSKY: Saxofon Concentus

Jean Baptiste Singelée (1812-1876)
According to the New Century Saxophone Quartet, Jean-Baptiste Singelée was born in Brussels and studied at the Royal School of Music in Belgium. He was the violin soloist with the Royal Theater of Brussels and directed orchestras there and in Gand. Singelée was one of the first composers to treat the saxophone as a serious classical instrument, evidenced by his composing over 30 Solos de Concours for Sax and his students at the Paris Conservatory. As a longtime friend of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone (they met as students at the Royal School of Music), he encouraged Sax to develop the four principal members of the saxophone family, and composed what is very likely the first work ever written for the saxophone quartet, his "Premier Quatuor, Op. 53," completed in 1857. In addition to his saxophone works, Singelée is credited with composing 12 concertos, many solo works for violin and other instruments as well as music for ballet.

Florent Schmitt (1870 - 1958)
A composition pupil of Massenet and of Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire, Florent Schmitt, in common with a number of his contemporaries, was fascinated by the exotic, an element of orientalism of a kind appearing as a feature in several of his successful compositions.

Ida Gotkovsky (1933 -
Ida Gotkovsky is considered as one of the most prominent composers for saxophone. She has won many first prizes for her work in counterpoint, composition, and music theory at the Conservatoire National Superieur du Musique in France. Her teacher, Nadia Boulanger has taught many famous composers including Paul Hindemith. Some of her most important works for the saxophone are Brillance, Concerto, and Variations Pathetiques. Her stylistic traits include additive rhythms, meter changes, virtuosity, instrument with accompaniment, and solo instrument.

Kristin Bjørhei, soprano saxophone
Lars Lien, alto saxophone
Gisle Haus, tenor saxophone
Espen Aslaksen, baryton saxophone