Beyond The Wall

Album review

The wall in the title of this release by the Akmi Duo is the Berlin Wall, and the raison d'être for the program is this: "With the saxophone as their vehicle [the works on the album] link the Cold War poles, borrowing both from the newborn bebop style and from tradition." This doesn't quite hold up; two of the four works, making up fully half the album, are from before World War II and have nothing to do with the Cold War. Other things here don't hang together: the language of the annotations is random; the University of Michigan, where Albright taught for many years, is placed near Chicago (it is four and a half hours away); and the booklet states that all the works were originally composed for saxophone and piano (Hindemith's Sonata, Op. 11, No. 4, was a viola work). All this said, saxophonist Valentine Michaud and pianist Akvilė Šileikaitė deliver strong performances of some uncommon works even by the standards of classical saxophone repertory. Actually the pairs of works from before and after the war make good sense together; the Albright Sonata for alto saxophone and piano, with its "follia nuova" slow movement, mirrors Hindemith's neoclassical but dramatic sonata, and Erwin Schulhoff's Hot-Sonata of 1930 and Edison Denisov's Sonata for alto saxophone and piano present two radically different takes on the jazz influence in classical music. Schulhoff's music is better known than it used to be, but this sonata is not a common item, and its structuring of jazz motifs is unique. Michaud's saxophone has a rich, warm tone, and one wants to hear more from this new duo. Definitely of interest to anyone who likes the classical saxophone. Also, the album graphics are top-notch.

© James Manheim /TiVo