Search - Amy Quate, Paul Creston, Ned Rorem :: American Saxophone Music

Nice music . . . weak interpretation

TUDizzleGT | Atlanta, GA USA | 02/11/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Alex Mitchell made a wonderful selection of American music for saxophone, however I was less than moved by his interpretations. He exhibits weak and choppy phrasing (he takes such long and ill-timed breaths, and so often!). The technical execution is equally poor, with unclean attacks, weak articulation, and way too many flubbed notes (I'm surprised they kept these takes for the CD). All in all, his interpretations lack connection with the music. I hear the notes, but no passion whatsoever. He even lets the piano outshine him at times -- I don't know any saxophonists that would allow that!"

Nice Idea From Naxos, But..

Ralphus | Goyang, Gynggi-Do Korea (South) | 12/08/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For saxophonists, it's good to see a release like this of less frequently heard works. Well, most of the pieces at least; The Creston and Muczynski are stalwarts of the repertoire and have each been recorded many times.



Unfortunately, that's about all by way of positivity that this reviewer can manage. Particularly since I don't much enjoy most of that unfamiliar repertoire anyway! The Rorem's OK. The rest don't do it for me.



Mostly though, it's Alex Mitchell's playing that is the problem. It's just so sloppy! There really isn't very much to praise. His sound aint so nice, his articulation is, frankly, woeful, there are several places where fast passages are just kind of wiped over as if he's hoping nobody will notice that he didn't actually play many of the right notes; musically there is much lacking; even the sound of the recording isn't so great. It's all surprisingly very amateurish. I don't even know if, at a good college/university with a high standard of woodwind students, this performance would even go down particularly well. Certainly, parts of it wouldn't.



I may be being a little harsh here, but I'm sure saxophonists, at least, will be quite disappointed with this release."

Less than what I hoped for

Michael Christensen | Norfolk, VA | 09/01/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this recording to add more interpretation to the myriad of recordings I already own of the Muczynski and Creston, but I also needed a recording of Ned Rorem's Picnic on the Marne. When doing a side-by-side comparison to the other (and far superior) recordings of Creston and Muczynski by Tse or Rousseau, I have to say that they cast a pretty thick shadow over Mr. Mitchell's interpretation. But to be fair, it is a modest recording that does offer many intriguing characteristics of American music for Saxophone.



First, it should be pointed out that the technique is sloppy for a professional recording and his interpretation is questionable at best. It is hard to listen to this recording at times because of this. However, Mr. Mitchell offers other selections that arent heard often (if ever) in the classical saxophone literature. The additions of the Quate "Light of Sothis" and the Hovhaness "Suite for Saxophone and Guitar" add a new flavor to the classical saxophone literature that could easily be programed into any undergraduate recital.



I would take his interpretation on Rorem's Picnic on the Marne with a grain of salt. His approach to this piece was bland, and didnt quite "jump off the page" for me. However, I am happy with this recording for the simply purpose that it gives me and other saxophonists another interpretation of common core lit, as well as less commonly recorded works for future study.



Bottom line, I would certainly not recommend this recording as an interpretive tool for young saxophonists, but I would certainly encourage it to be included in the recording collection for a quick and easy reference for comparisions."