Search - Albert Regni, Astor Piazzolla, Pierre Max Dubois :: El Amor

Fanfare Nov/Dec 1999 Review

Fanfare | USA | 11/22/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Founder and leader of the American Saxophone Quartet, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera principal saxophonist, Albert Regni, has arranged this group of Piazzolla's alluring melodies for the unlikely combination of soprano saxophone and string quartet. It appears to work very well, though at normal listening level the engineers have achieved a 'pop' music balance, with Regni looming large in front of a discrete backing group. The remainder of the disc fares much better, with Regni's daughter, Marissa, given equal status in Pierre Max DuBois's Feu de Paille (translated as 'Straw Fire,' the title is a French colloquialism for intense passion). In two very short movements for saxophone and violin, the music has an improvisatory nature as the instruments combine and interact with a seductive fervor. One time winner of the Prix de Rome, this very fine French composer is all too neglected on disc, and, though brief, this addition is most welcome.Over the years Bernard Hoffer wrote a number of works as birthday presents for friends. Taking Classical styles, Hoffer generates the most persuasive pastiches, from the Bach inspired opening Arietta to the Vivaldi-influenced Giga. They have now been gathered together to form a delightful suite using a mixture of instruments, from a saxophone and violin duet, to a quartet for saxophone and three strings. This is fun music, immediately attractive, and with very catchy melodic content.The playing throughout is of the very highest quality, but with little more than 46 minutes, Sons of Sound might at least have invested in more than a difficult-to-read two-page booklet."