A beautiful new piece by Maslanka
05/15/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a beautiful cd starting out with a new quartet by David Maslanka and is the six-movement Mountain Roads the cd is named after. The movements are based on Maslanka's study of Bach chorales, and he includes two chorale melodies around which the piece revolve. This piece was commissioned by the Transcontinental Saxophone Quartet, who also premiered it.The second piece, Sax Appeal, was commissioned by the Amherst Saxophone quartet. It is a lively four movement piece inspired by the jazz idiom. Russell Peck's Drastic Measures is based upon a three-note figure at the beginning of the piece. It later goes on to include elements such as slap-tonguing.Overall, the performance of the Transcontinental Saxophone Quartet is very excellent--they blend well together and this is a wonderful cd and a great addition to any collection."