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Posted: |
Apr 12, 2015 - 8:28 AM
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By: |
johnbijl
(Member)
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Thanks to a tip from Mark Langdon, I've been enjoying a quite surprising album by classical saxophonist Angie Dickson recorded with the Melbourne Symphony. (Thanks Mark!)
It contains three pieces: two concerto's based on the filmscores of Catch me if you can (Williams) and Local Hero (Knopfler) and Kamen's non-film Saxophone concerto. I got the album mostly because I'm in love with Kamen's work and curious how a new performance would work out, and was intrigued by the others.
I neither case I wasn't disappointed. The Catch-me-arrangement (called Escapades) gels perfectly, creating easygoing piece close to it's origins though, to me, a more coherent listen.
Kamen's concerto is in terms of arrangement and tempo also close to its original performance. I found the first movement less energetic and less climactic (and I miss Kamen's yell at the 7,5-minute mark  ). It doesn't lessen the performance though, it's just different. Perhaps more classy in parts, some pieces feel a bit to much 'on the beat' and less natural in flow.
This approach continues in the recording of second and third movement, but works out for the best in this case. The more discrete approach balances the solist and the orchestra better than the Kamen/Sanborn-recording, where I found the saxophone sometimes a surprise to the orchestral parts.
Local Hero sounds like a completely different piece. It could be my memory, but I recall Knopfler's score to be cold and fragmentary. The final piece, Going Home, always felt, whilst memorable on it's own, like it didn't belong. The concerto provides a enjoyable listen, with al the themes intact and the integrity of the music preserved.
I enjoyed this album a lot. I wish more filmscores(1) would get treatments like this. And I wish more filmcomposers would get the opportunity to write pieces outside film (2).
(1) There's this category of filmscores that have beautiful music, but somehow don't work as an album. Both Catch me if you can and Local Hero belong to that category, I think. Concerto's like these are a great opportunity to save the music from the oblivion of unlistenability.
(2) I missed Horner's Collage but loved Pas de Deux. More than I recent filmscores, including Horner's own Wolf Totem and I thought that was magnificent.
(3) Yes, I used footnotes in a FSM-post. What's your point?
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It is very hard to find someone who plays with the intensity and emotion that Sanborn does in Kamen's concerto. While the Amy Dickson is a good recording and offers another perspective, it really doesn't compare to the original recording.
If you are interested in another perspective check out Eric Marienthal and the UNLV Wind Ensemble on http://www.amazon.com/Concerto-Marienthal-Suzuki/dp/B002XMB0HU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428861231&sr=8-1&keywords=concerto+for+marienthal. Eric has a much brighter sound than Amy Dickson. While it is still not Sanborn, it is closer.
About 5 years ago, I worked with Dr. Thomas Leslie and after hearing that I was a saxophonist, he gave me this CD. A few weeks later, he e-mailed me the saxophone part too, that his doctoral student transcribed.
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Thanks for highlighting these recordings. I've missed both of these versions, and John, I'm with you, I love these remakings of film scores. Reminds me of the great concert pieces R.R. Bennett made from Far from the Madding Crowd and Lady Caroline Lamb on the Chandos album.
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Done, LeHah, and thanks.
Folks, at Amazon you can also see other albums by Ms. Dickson, including an easy-listening collection named, "A Summer Place"….
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