The Last Words of Christ by Ebonit Saxophone Quartet

Ebonit Saxophone Quartet

The Last Words of Christ

Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917270129
Catnr: CC 72701
Release date: 03 February 2016

1 CD

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917270129

Catalogue number
CC 72701

Release date
03 February 2016

""The Ebonit Saxophone Quartet has a impressive sound and delivers here with rotating and pure interplay an even ambitious as imposant debute. The arranged strinking Sieben letzten Worte from Joseph Haydn forms the spine of this wonderfull album, with a special involvement from Claron McFadden.""

Edison Nomination, 19-10-2016

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Ebonit Saxophone Quartet: Our debut CD is a combination of the "Seven Last Words" from Haydn with XXcentury music. The piece of Haydn is a basis of the whole program and the special and unique thing is that we replaced some of the movements with pieces by Reger, Webern, Sibelius and Schostakovich. Those pieces are fitting in the tonal and dramatic dramatic progression of the whole Seven Last Words. In the original oratorio version there is a short text which is read before every piece/track. We chose for the putting this text in the recording is, to set the mood for every movement of the piece and to give sort of guidline throughout the entire piece. The listener after litening to the text read by Claron will get sort of information, introduction and we suppose that is going to listen to it in a different way. We "invite" a listener to reflect of certain values like love, pain, suffering, which are part of everyones life and are the main thematic of the Seven Last Words. All the pieces except Webern are arranged by members of the quartet which is a very special aspect. Those are arrangements done specially for our formation, adjusted for us. (First we arrange the score and then while working on it together we adapt things which fit for us) Played on the saxophone quartet pieces which are mainly for string quartet gives a new, fresh, innovative way of listening to it.

The choral texts form the foundations and framework of this special cycle that has been assembled by the Ebonit Saxophone Quartet. Singer and voice artist Claron McFadden takes on the ‘role’ of the Bishop and the four saxophones provide musical meditations on the spoken word. The music being performed includes three movements from Haydn’s cycle and four compositions from much later dates: Nachtlied (1914) by Max Reger, Langsamer Satz (1905) by Anton Webern, the third movement of Voces Intimae (1909) by Jean Sibelius and the third movement of the Seventh String Quartet (1960) by Dmitri Shostakovich. Haydn concluded the cycle with the horrifying Il terremoto (the Earthquake) but in this cycle we hear the agitated music of Shostakovich. The pieces by Reger, Webern and Sibelius are permeated respectively by feelings of contemplation, yearning and intense grief; moods that comprehensively encapsulate the impact of the words from the Cross.

Een unieke combinatie van Hadyn en 20e-eeuwse muziek
Dit album bevat de opname van een origineel project van het Ebonit Saxofoonkwartet: een gloednieuwe bewerking voor saxofoon van Haydns Zeven Laatste Woorden van Jezus Christus aan het Kruis, met toevoeging van muziek uit de 20e eeuw. De beroemde sopraan Claron McFadden citeert de woorden voorafgaand aan elk deel. Op 13 februari 2016 gaf het kwartet een concert met dit programma in Amsterdam.

De bewerkingen van alle composities, op die van Webern na, zijn door de leden van het kwartet zelf geschreven. Deze bewerkingen geven een frisse en innovatieve interpretatie aan de werken, die uitnodigt om op een nieuwe manier te luisteren.

Ebonit Saxofoonkwartet schreef over dit album: "Ons debuutalbum is een combinatie van de Zeven Laatste Woorden van Haydn met 20e-eeuwse muziek. Het werk van Haydn vormt de basis van het programma. Het bijzondere aan dit programma is dat we sommige delen hebben vervangen door werken van Reger, Webern, Sibelius en Schostakovich. Deze werken passen binnen de tonale en dramatische progressie van de Zeven Laatste Woorden als geheel. In de originele versie wordt er voor elk deel een korte tekst opgezegd. We hebben deze teksten opgenomen op het album, omdat ze de stemming van elk deel aangeven, en omdat ze aanwijzingen bevatten voor de luisteraars. We nodigen de luisteraar uit om na te denken over liefde, pijn en lijden; de thema’s van de Zeven Laatste Woorden, die deel uitmaken van ieders leven."

Für ihr Debüt stellt das Ebonit Saxophone Quartet Haydns 'Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze' ins Zentrum und ergänzen es mit Werken des 20. Jahrhunderts und den Originaltexten gelesen von Claron McFadden.

Artist(s)

Ebonit Saxophone Quartet

The Ebonit Saxophone Quartet is a sparkling and inspired ensemble founded in 2011 at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music.The four musicians from Poland, the Netherlands and Germany had quickly made for themselves a name in the Netherlands and abroad, performing in major halls including the Concertgebouw and the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam, De Toonzaal in Den Bosch and TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. The quartet performed as well in international festivals including the World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews (Scotland), the Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam, the Bach Festival in Dordrecht (the Netherlands), the Bachtage in Würzburg (Germany) and the International Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog (the Netherlands). The quartet is regularly working together with composers to enlarge the original repertoire, including Richard Whalley,...

The Ebonit Saxophone Quartet is a sparkling and inspired ensemble founded in 2011 at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music.The four musicians from Poland, the Netherlands and Germany had quickly made for themselves a name in the Netherlands and abroad, performing in major halls including the Concertgebouw and the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam, De Toonzaal in Den Bosch and TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. The quartet performed as well in international festivals including the World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews (Scotland), the Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam, the Bach Festival in Dordrecht (the Netherlands), the Bachtage in Würzburg (Germany) and the International Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog (the Netherlands).
The quartet is regularly working together with composers to enlarge the original repertoire, including Richard Whalley, Kevin Malone, Valentin Villard and Chris Chamoun. The quartet recorded the “Sonata for saxophone quartet” from Chamoun, it can be found on his CD The greatest Hits (so far).
The début-CD of the Ebonit Quartet, The Last Words of Christ, with music by Haydn, Webern, Sibelius and Shostakovich has been released in February 2016.

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Simone Müller (saxophone)

Simone Müller (1989, Friedrichshafen, Germany) got her first saxophone lessons at the age of nine, from Frank Schüssler at the “Städtische Musikschule” in Friedrichshafen. She was the recipient of four first prizes in the German competition “Jugend musiziert” and received a scholarship from the German foundation “Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben”. Simone was also finalist in the international Yamaha Sax Contest in Hamburg. From 2005 till 2009 she was a member of the Symphonic Youth Wind Orchestra Baden-Württemberg under the direction of Prof. Felix Hauswirth. With this orchestra she toured Korea, Scotland, Portugal, Ukraine, and Spain.
In 2009 she started her studies with Arno Bornkamp at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. A year later in 2010 Simone got awarded with the “Kulturförderpreis der Stadt Friedrichshafen”, the cultural price of her home town. During the winter semester 2012/2013, Simone was part of the Erasmus exchange program with Vienna and continued her studies under Lars Mlekusch. In 2015 Simone got supported from the Dijkstra-Visser Fonds, which is a port of Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. Simone attended numerous master classes, most importantly with Claude Delangle, Christian Wirth, Vincent David, Prof. Daniel Gauthier, Jean-Marie Londeix, and Christian Lauba.
Right now Simone is doing her master degree in saxophone and chamber music at the conservatorium van Amsterdam.

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Dineke Nauta (saxophone)

Dineke Nauta (1992, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands) started playing the saxophone at the age of nine and was from 2008 till 2010 a student of Peter Stam in the “Young Talent” program at the Prins Claus Conservatory in Groningen. Since 2010, she has been studying with Arno Bornkamp at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2015 she completed her Bachelor studies succesfully and was accepted tot he Master program. In 2010, Dineke received a first prize in the regional final of the Dutch competition “Prinses Christina Concours” and a second prize and public award in the national finals. A year later she earned the first prize in the competition of the Dutch Foundation for Young Music Talent. In November 2011, Dineke toured...

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Johannes Pfeuffer (saxophone)

Johannes Pfeuffer was born in the year 1990 in Würzburg/Germany. Already in his early childhood, his parents could remark a great joy for music and after some years on the recorder and the piano, Johannes began to play the saxophone at the age of nine. He was especially amazed by the playing of the Jazz-Legend Charlie Parker but his interest for the classical saxophone grew steadily. At the age of sixteen, he was admitted to the young talent program of the Hochschule in Würzburg where he received lessons from Prof. Lutz Koppetsch. Meeting Koppetsch marked a turning point in Johannes’ musical development. Fascinating for him was the great musicality and the joy for music of his new teacher.
During his studies in Würzburg he won two times a first prize with the highest points in the national competition Jugend Musiziert. This success enabled him to make his debut as a soloist with the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchester and the Junge Philharmonie Würzburg, to perform a concert in Lisbon/Portugal and to play the Pictures at an Exhibition with the Youth Orchestra of Bavaria, conducted by Mariss Jansons.
While finishing secondary school, Johannes visited frequently masterclasses with Claude Delangle, Arno Bornkamp, Vincent David and Jean-Denis Michat. He entered the famous saxophone class of Arno Bornkamp in Amsterdam after graduating from high school.
Johannes received the cultural sponsorship award of his hometown Würzburg, as youngest awardee in the history of the city. In 2014, he finished his Bachelor-Studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with the highest distinction Cum Laude.

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Paulina Marta Kulesza (saxophone)

Paulina Marta Kulesza started her musical studies at the age of 14 with Krzysztof Witkowski, followed by Sławomir Bielski, with whom she studied until 2010 in a Secondary State Music School in Białystok (Poland). While there, she won both the 3rd prize and later the Distinction prize at National Saxophone Festival in Przeworsk, a Distinction prize at National Audition for Chamber Music Groups in Wrocław, and a 3rd prize at the III International Competition for woodwind instruments in Wrocław. Paulina is a two-time recipient of the Otwarta Filharmonia Agrafki Muzycznej scholarship for young and talented musicians.
In the fall of 2010 Paulina began her studies in Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the class of Arno Bornkamp. Since then she was a 1st prize winner at the ClariSax Competition in Valenciennes (France), won the audition for the Orchestra 1813 in Italy and receive a scholarship Młoda Polska from Polish Minister of Culture. In the 3rd year of her bachelor studies Paulina did an exchange studies in the Conservatory of Versailles with Vincent David. In 2014 Paulina finished her bachelor studies and started her master degree in saxophone and chamber music, being at the same time a full-time student of Nederlandse Strijk Kwartet Academie together with Ebonit Saxophone Quartet.
Paulina had performed with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Gaffigan and twice with Radio Philharmonisch Orkest conducted by James Gaffigan and Markus Stenz. Paulina has participated in many masterclasses and masterclasses including the 2010 and 2012 International Saxophone Week (Amsterdam) and the Contemporary Music Masterclass with Jean-Marie Londeix and Christian Lauba (Amsterdam). Paulina has had the pleasure of receiving lessons from Christian Wirth, Vincent David, Claude Delangle, Jean-Yves Formeau (France), Jan-Schulte- Bunert (Germany), Willem van Merwijk (the Netherlands), Radek Knopp and Paweł Gusnar (Poland).
In March 2015 Paulina was invited to the project Music for Peace, where together with the founders of the project (Vitaly Vatulya and Maria Nemtsova) were touring and giving masterclasses in the post-conflict zones of Balkan countries.

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Composer(s)

Anton von Webern

Together with Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, with whom he formed the Second Viennese School, Webern laid the foundation for a large part of 20th-century music. Yet, he did so in a completely unique way. Whereas Berg was still largely influenced by the Romantic Period, and Schoenberg was a true expressionist, Webern took a more adventurous path. Of course, his music was just as atonal as the music of his peers, but he turned away from the classical-romantic tradition in many more ways. Generally, his pieces are short works written for small ensembles. Above all, his works sound empty. Webern became a man of miniatures, of which his Variations for piano op. 27 are his best-known examples. Moreover, in his rigid music...

Generally, his pieces are short works written for small ensembles. Above all, his works sound empty. Webern became a man of miniatures, of which his Variations for piano op. 27 are his best-known examples. Moreover, in his rigid music he is strongly influenced by medieval music, preceding composers such as Arvo Pärt. However, Webern's music is not as warm as Pärt's music, but colder and more distant. Webern creates a truly unique and new musical universe, which is why his is music is still exciting today.

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Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) was the composer who gave Finland its own sound, right when this nation was struggling to detach itself from Russia. Sibelius wrote several impressive symphonic poems - among which Finlandia, Lemminkäinen-suite, Oceaniden, Tapiola - for he took inspiration from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. He was just as original as a symphonist: his Seven Symphonies are just as much answers to the question how the genre should develop after Tchaikovsky's death.

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) was the composer who gave Finland its own sound, right when this nation was struggling to detach itself from Russia. Sibelius wrote several impressive symphonic poems - among which Finlandia, Lemminkäinen-suite, Oceaniden, Tapiola - for he took inspiration from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. He was just as original as a symphonist: his Seven Symphonies are just as much answers to the question how the genre should develop after Tchaikovsky's death.

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Max Reger

Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 1873 – 11 May 1916) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher. Born in Brand, Bavaria, Reger studied music in Munich and Wiesbaden with Hugo Riemann. From September 1901 he settled in Munich, where he obtained concert offers and where his rapid rise to fame began. During his first Munich season, Reger appeared in ten concerts as an organist, chamber pianist and accompanist. He continued to compose without interruption. From 1907 he worked in Leipzig, where he was music director of the universityuntil 1908 and professor of composition at the conservatory until his death. In 1911 he moved to Meiningen where he got the position of Hofkapellmeister at the court of Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. In 1915 he moved to Jena, commuting once a week to teach in Leipzig. He died in May 1916 on...

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Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich was a Russian pianist and composer of the Soviet period. He is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.
Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947–1962) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death).
A polystylist, Shostakovich developed a hybrid voice, combining a variety of different musical techniques into his works. His music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; the composer was also heavily influenced by the neo-classical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky, and (especially in his symphonies) by the late Romanticism associated with Gustav Mahler.
Shostakovich's orchestral works include 15 symphonies and six concerti. His chamber output includes 15 string quartets, a piano quintet, two piano trios, and two pieces for string octet. His solo piano works include two sonatas, an early set of preludes, and a later set of 24 preludes and fugues. Other works include three operas, several song cycles, ballets, and a substantial quantity of film music; especially well known is The Second Waltz, Op. 99, music to the film The First Echelon (1955–1956), as well as the suites of music composed for The Gadfly.

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Press

"The Ebonit Saxophone Quartet has a impressive sound and delivers here with rotating and pure interplay an even ambitious as imposant debute. The arranged strinking Sieben letzten Worte from Joseph Haydn forms the spine of this wonderfull album, with a special involvement from Claron McFadden."
Edison Nomination , 19-10-2016

"A beautiful debut of Ebonit Saxophone Quartet."
Mania, 08-4-2016

" [...] The plays are all more than magnificant [...] "
Luister, 08-4-2016

"[...] not only does the company play extraordinary homogeen and exciting, the reportoire choose on 'the last words of christ' is remarkable for a debut-cd. [...]"
Klassieke Zaken, 01-4-2016

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Klassieke Zaken, 01-4-2016

"The three remaining pieces of Hadyn something make less of an impression, already arouses their intimate, honest approach but more and more sympathy."
Luister Magazine, 01-4-2016

In plaatpaal Radio 4
NPO Radio 4, 31-3-2016

"Its gripping music, which evokes deeply religious and at the same time universal human feelings beautifully through the much younger, twentieth-century works. Jesus' last words on the cross are there to stay, certainly in this version of the Ebonit Saxophone Quartett. We will hear alot from them."
Kerk en Leven, 23-3-2016

"The young musicians control their instruments to perfection and they have learned to play together."
Friesch Dagblad, 22-3-2016

CD of the Week Radio 4
Radio 4 CD van de Week, 21-3-2016

" [...] The alternation works very well, all the more so because Ebonit gives solid interpretations, with a glowing harmony and beautiful solos [...] "
NRC Handelsblad, 14-3-2016

"About the choice of performing music by Reger, Webern, Sibelius and Shostakovich they have thought that out thoroughly and play these quite well."
De Gelderlander, 09-3-2016

''One ensemble after the other is debuting! Barely used to the beautiful sound of the Berlage Saxophone Quartet, the next great ensemble from the Amsterdam Conservatorium class of Arno Bornkamp which is juggling with their four reeds. On their debut-album they appear to be capable of everything.''
De Volkskrant, 24-2-2016