Japanese have fun with serious sax

Why is it that, outside of jazz, the only musicians who seem at home with 'serious sax' are the French? This all-saxophone programme was performed by 'the leading saxophone quartet in Japan'. And while the writers hailed from Russia, Hong Kong and Japan, the only truly 'saxophonish' music was composed by the French.

Is it that 'easy facility' of the instrument? That sound which seems as friendly as a fuzzy dog? That sweetness tinging on the truculent? The easy-going timbres which inevitably verge on blues quarter-tones even when they are written with sober notation? Again, excluding jazz (a senseless proscription, when the word sax is synonymous with Parker and Coltrane and Bechet and Mulligan), only the French seem to have the equation down correctly.

The quartet of Gallic composers played by the Quatre Roseaux Saxophone Ensemble wrote their saxophone with bubbly Champagne joy. Their nuances may have been irreverent, but their results were sheer good fun.

This is not to detract from the other works. Hong Kong composer Polly Ng's A Traveller was the only work to get away from that somewhat hazy ensemble sensation to cater for individual performers. The form was a bit hazy, but each saxophone voice was given its own colour, its own shape of playing.

As on opening night, Isao Matsushita also showed a feel for this quartet, for whom he wrote yet another Atoll piece. On Sunday, the quartet was surrounded by orchestral sound. Here the colour was not quite so lush, though the texture was placid enough.

Glazunov's theme and variations was pleasing, but could have been played by any instrument.

But now you come to the French. Francaix, Pierne, Rivier and Descelos actually played with their instruments. They could verge on jazz, blues or (urgh!) a Glenn Miller ensemble. But the joy of their composition made the evening memorable. Musicarama II: Quatre Roseaux Saxophone Ensemble, City Hall Theatre, Monday, September 2