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Sax In The City

The Columbus Indiana Philharmonic opens their 2010-2011 Season with a program titled Sax in the City. The program, conducted by the Philharmonic's artistic director David Bowden, features Saxophonist Kenneth Tse in the U. S. symphonic premiere of David Canfields' Concerto after Glière.

A Sax Piece That Began In The Strings Section

David Canfield's concerto began as an arrangement for the Bloomington Pops, with bassist Bruce Bransby. "I did the work and was pleased with it. But although I'm a string player myself, I was not satisfied with the double bass as the solo instrument."

"When the opportunity arose to do a piece for saxophone and orchestra, it seemed the perfect opportunity [to experiment with new instrumentation]. I reset the original two movements and added a third of my own. Voila! There was the concerto."

An Experiment In Modern Russian Romanticism

"It was in part an experiment. A lot of the contemporary music for saxophone is quite modern. I was not just writing a romantic piece, I was writing a Russian romantic piece. I didn't know if today's saxophonists would embrace it. I'm happy to say that it's become my most performed piece in orchestral, band and solo arrangements."

Kenneth Tse played the first performance of Canfield's concerto at an international festival in Thailand. "Although when I learned about the piece, I very much wanted to play it," Tse says, "David had actually written it with the great saxophonist and teacher Eugene Rousseau in mind. I talked with Rousseau and he said that he didn't have the time to prepare the piece for the international meeting, so I presented the premiere. "

Demanding Scales And Arpeggios, Dynamics And Lyricism

Tse has played a wide variety of pieces, some for the saxophone and some for other instruments. "David's concerto does present its own challenges. It is very much a romantic work. I've worked very hard over the scales, the dynamic demands and the lyric elements to give the piece its full due. The audience in Thailand enjoyed it very much and I think that the Columbus audience will be very pleased by this new, but fully romantic piece."

In addition to the Concerto after Glière…, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic will also perform Steven Kariodoyanes' Café Neon and the first of Johannes Brahms' symphonies.

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