With this remarkable new Challenge Classics SACD, I’m sure the Belgian musician and inventor Adolphe Sax would be pleased to know that, in our day, the saxophone continues to play its justified, though limited, role in the classical domain, as it was originally intended, and before it was so successfully ‘hijacked’ by the jazz and entertainment community. That said, I’m equally sure that classical lovers of this instrument will welcome this release to bolster their dedicated collection.

Taken in its historical perspective: Rachmaninoff integrated the impressive sonority of the alto saxophone in his Symphonic Dances. However, for several reasons and not least even sabotage from the woodwinds, this instrument never got a permanent place in standard symphony orchestras. Nonetheless, its classical use carried forward in various other configurations as a solo instrument, in a brass band, or better still: wind band, and, in perhaps its purest form, in the many saxophone quartets I had the pleasure to review in these pages (Transcend - Fukio Quartet).

The Austrian saxophonist Andreas Mader and his friends, a group of 12 hand-picked musicians, including the soloist and conductor, prepared a line-up of dance-like compositions and ingenious arrangements by famous or hardly known composers entitled “In Motion”. The reason for qualifying the arrangements ‘ingenious’ is that some of the original scores seem to have merely served as a model. For those, it would perhaps have been better to say: ‘based on’. Whatever the case, the result is an interesting ‘framework in motion’ for Saxophone and Ensemble, be it real (Concertino da Camera by Ibert), similar (El amor brujo, by de Falla) or Phantasy (Villa-Lobos). In the final analysis, with the inclusion of Pierre-Max’s Sonatine-Tango and the second ‘jazzy’ movement of Ravel’s Violin Sonata No. 2, one might say this musical cocktail covers the various uses of the saxophone, giving something for every taste worth collecting.

The liner notes give, as usual, a glowing account of Andreas Mader’s standing as a soloist and educator, and it’s all true. But the best test, of course, is listening to his performance on this recording. He gloriously passes in the Larghetto of Jacques Ibert’s Concertina de Cámara. A breathtakingly tonal surprise! Mader’s technique is phenomenal, and the players follow suit. Indeed, played like this, Adolphe Sax’s invention deserves a more prominent place in the classical repertoire.

Challenge Classic has done well to entrust the recording engineering to Bert van der Wolf’s outfit: Northstar Recording. They are a cut above the rest.

Blangy-le-Château, Normandy, France

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