Review: Great Sax

I left this concert with a light step, buoyed by the artistry of Claude Delangle, who combined technical wizardry on the alto and soprano saxophones with taste, grace and a French soul.

Jacques Ibert's Concertino da Camera introduced this sound world. Under the baton of Jean Thorel, the small ensemble of single strings and winds was a little shaky at first in the quick-paced music, but eventually settled into a groove.

This was jazz through Gallic ears: syncopated and spicy, with a light touch and never bitter. The saxophone can pall when it has just one colour, no matter how beautiful, but in the lyrical Larghetto movement Delangle showed the variety of rich and nuanced sounds at his command.

He joined the orchestra, which added piano and percussion, for Milhaud's La Création du Monde. Milhaud's music has never been central to the classical repertoire, despite its quirky originality and beauty. It is hard to know when he is serious and when he is joking. The piece started with a languid melody over treading timpani, interrupted by rude trombone and piano outbursts. The abrupt mood changes persisted throughout. The colourful percussion is key to the balance of the ensemble and it could have been played more assertively.

Légende by André Caplet, with string sections joining the group, had a graceful, fairy-tale atmosphere, in a musical language similar to Debussy. It was a pleasure to hear the sweeping, passionate melodies, played with gleaming sound by the strings and sax, even though one could predict what was coming a little too often.