19th-Century European Saxophone Quartets

[4candles]

For me, a welcome release from Da Vinci Classics, including works by minor composers Singelée, Savari, Sellenick, Cressonnois, Mohr, Mayeur and my beloved Léon Kreutzer (I am delighted to say). Most are first recordings, I believe, and fill a gap in the recorded repertoire for the instrument.

Not completely convinced about the balance of the disk in terms of music quality, but I'm certainly not going to quibble.

Here are uncomplicated, well-crafted pieces, mostly typical music for the era. Harmonically and structurally I'd say Kreutzer's piece (which I recently discovered is a transcription of a string quartet movement) is the most adventurous and individual, but there are lovely moments in all the works presented here, which are by clearly very competent composers.

The Quartetto Cherubini have a fine tone  and good sense of balance and are warmly recorded.

Not yet available on CD in UK / at Presto, but you can find more information here.

And indeed you can now stream the release via Spotify and YouTube.

[semloh]

Thanks for this 4candles. Listening on YT, they are very engaging works, played with conviction and finesse. I love the mellow sounds that can be made by a saxophone quartet. Impressive, IMHO.