Rupture
Yoel Diaz Avila
Concerto en 6 préludes
Alexandre David (b.1989)
Essences
Victor Herbiet (b.1980)
Danse des dragons
Robert Lemay (b.1960)
Verticales
Quatuor de saxophones Nelligan
No recording details given
Centrediscs CMCCD32823 [46]

I was pleased to receive this disc for review as I’m a lover of the sound of the saxophone. In this new release from Centrediscs, the Nelligan Saxophone Quartet explore the music of four contemporary Canadian composers, living in Quebec. The Quartet have titled their album ‘Rupture’ and explain the reasoning behind this in the accompanying booklet notes. The title “implies notions of discontinuity, break, interruption”. Throughout their journey they explore the different stylistic and artistic approaches of each composer. Yet, on their trek they also stumbled upon commonalities. It’s a tortuous path the listener is taken on, but one of intrigue and excitement as one discovers how these composers explore the versatility and virtuosity of the saxophone.

The disc opens with Yoel Diaz Avila’s Concerto en 6 préludes, a fitting curtain raiser with its sunny disposition. The scoring is virtuosic and the Nelligan’s rise to the challenge admirably. The rugged rhythmic patterns are intermittently reinforced by percussion, which emphasizes the beat. There’s a strong Cuban element running throughout, and the influence of jazz is powerfully present.

In contrast, Alexandre David’s Essences transports the listener on a lonely and isolated quest through a desolate landscape. Words such as ‘static’, ‘spacious’ and ‘stillness’ are conjured up.

The discordant and, at times, abrasive and acerbic harmonies convey a sense of mystery and bequeath real reach and potency.

Danse des dragons is a 2023 reorchestration for saxophone quartet of an earlier double concerto in which two dragons meet and dance together. The catchy and foot-tapping rhythms and affable geniality are guaranteed to raise a smile and lift the spirits. It’s certainly a piece to quicken the pulse and bring delight to the senses.

The Nelligan Quartet close with Robert Lemay’s Verticales, which is a tribute to the American Abstract Expressionist painter Barnett Newman (1905-1970). It’s the most compositionally advanced, the most modern sounding, of the works on the CD. Fragmented shards of sound and scurrying prismic patterns translate the painter’s work into sound. The complex chromatic writing adds glitter and spice.

I have really enjoyed this CD. There is so much diversity and contrast between the works performed. The virtuosity and skill of the Nelligan Quartet is beyond reproach, and they’ve been blessed with a fabulous sounding recording; the engineers have worked a miracle. This is a disc I shall certainly return to often and it gets my enthusiastic thumbs up.

Stephen Greenbank

Performers
Saxophone soprano : Jennifer Lachaîne
Saxophone alto : Corinne Lanthier
Saxophone ténor : Isabelle Choquette
Saxophone baryton : Mathieu Gaulin
Guiro et claves : Yoel Diaz Avila (Concerto en 6 préludes)