Quatuor de Saxophones Nelligan - chamber music ensemble

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Spring, 1998

Named for celebrated Quebecois poet Emile Nelligan, the QUATUOR DE SAXOPHONES NELLIGAN was formed in 1993 as a chamber music ensemble which would promote composers who have written original music for saxophone quartets (mostly twentieth century works). Given the scarcity of compositions destined exclusively for the sax, the quartet also commissions new works by Canadian composers.

The foursome believe that the homogenous sonority of a saxophone quartet equals that of stringed instruments, and its expressivity and versatility in so many styles of music can be likened only to the human voice. They contend that the result is a palette of colours and nuances compatible with traditional classical and contemporary music.

Despite their desire to promote latterday Canadian composers, for their recent CD release these saxophone savants chose to explore the work of J.S. Bach. Art of the Fugue is built around a simple subject, exploring the various forms of fugal and canonical writing. Though probably intended for harpsichord or organ originally, versions for piano, string quartet, brass ensemble, and chamber orchestra have paid tribute to its importance and magnitude over the years.

Music reviewer John Sutherland writes "although not the first, the Quatuor de Saxophone Nelligan offers the listener a fine rendition of the work (ie: Contrapunctus 1-X1/XV1-XV11/X1X) for soprano, tenor, alto and baritone saxophones, recorded in a sonorous church setting that enhances the vigour and clarity of its presentation." Perhaps if sales go well, the quartet's next recording may explore Canadian repertoire.