Blog | MulesRasch

The subcontrabass saxophone

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:02:45 -0400

This is a big saxophone. This is the first time I've seen a subcontrabass saxophone. That is one big sucker.

Saxophone on Australian radio

Sat, 01 May 2010 16:22:14 -0400

The Sydney Conservatorium of Music Saxophone Orchestra, under the direction of Michael Duke, will be performing a concert of saxophone ensemble music. The concert is going to be broadcast on ABC, Australia's classical music radio network.

You can hear the concert live via the internet, Sunday May 2 at 11PM (EST) [That’s 1PM Monday May 3rd in Australia).

The program has an international flavour to it, with works by Katia Beaugeais (Australia), Ed Martin (USA), Jane O'Leary (Ireland), Robert Lemay (Canada) & Claire Loveday (South Africa).

You can hear the concert by following this link for the streaming page.

Adamcyk - Devant l'azur

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:29:21 -0400

The Radio-Canada web site has a recording of the premiere of David Adamcyk's Devant l'azur, which was premiered last month during a concert by the SMCQ. The piece written for soprano, tenor saxophone and piano was performed by Julieanne Klein (soprano), Zasha Di Castro (piano) and tenor saxophonist Adam Kinner.

Other pieces also available to listen to from that particular concert, which was part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Quebec composer Gilles Tremblay's career include a solo piano piece by one of Tremblay's former student, Michel Gonneville and thee works by the master himself: Solstices ou Les jours et les saisons tournent (1971), Musiques de l'eau (2008), and Envoi (1982). The SMCQ (Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec) is conducted by its musical director (a composer and sax player himself) Walter Boudreau.

Hindemith Trio

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:47:36 -0400

The "Orchestre de Paris" has a nice video clip of performances and commentaries (in French) by the members of Trio Futurama about their recital of Paul Hindemith music.

Member of the trio inlcude Misaki Baba (piano), Benachir Boukhatem (viola) and Clément Himbert (sax)

Some back relief for all

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:59:01 -0400

An interesting article from the BBC South East Wales for everyone who has issues with back and neck problems from lugging around big saxes. A British bass sax player, Jim Barrett, is working with an ergonomic design specialist in designing a new harness. He says that the expert advice of Judith Hill has "ease the back pain he suffers from playing a bass saxophone".

Ms Hill will be presenting a paper about her work at the Annual conference of the Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors (IEHF) at Keele University tomorrow (April 14, 2010). She is also in discussion with a company to develop a new model of harness.

Something to keep an eye on for the future.

Saxophone Ensemble List

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 08:52:29 -0400

I have just updated the Saxophone New Works Wiki with a list of saxophone ensemble pieces. The list contains 642 pieces as of this writing. You can check the list for saxophone ensemble pieces by following the link.