Chamber Music

As historian Will Durant once said, "nothing is new except arrangement." And while Durant was speaking about the moral ideas of Jesus, he might as well have been speaking of this highly unusual arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations for three, sometimes four, saxophones by the trio, sometimes quartet, ensemble Sax Allemande. Sure, it takes some getting used to -- after all, a blown brass saxophone ensemble is an entirely different musical beast than a plucked-string, two-manual harpsichord -- but once you make the adjustment, the effect is amazing. It's amazing because it's so beautiful, amazing because it's so musical, and most of all amazing because it's so impossibly but wonderfully appropriate. Part of the reason it's amazing is that the Sax Allemande is a subtle, sensitive, soulful ensemble with absolutely unbelievable individual and collective technique. No matter what Bach or the arrangement throws at them, the players knock it out of the park. And part of the reason it's amazing is that the music itself is seemingly indestructible. In a very real sense, it doesn't seem to matter what instrument or combination of instruments play the Goldberg -- harpsichord, piano, string trio, sax trio, whatever -- as long as it's played well, the piece holds up as one of the great monuments of Western music. While clearly not for everyone, anyone with an open mind and an open heart will surely enjoy this disc. From another room, Farao Classics' digital sound could easily be mistaken for the real thing. © TiVo