Top 5 best pieces for saxophone, in no particular order: -Edison Denis...

Top 5 best pieces for saxophone, in no particular order:

-Edison Denisow Sonata for alto saxophone and piano. One of the most impressive pieces I have ever heard for saxophone. I never got around to playing it when I was in school, I guess I was looking up to it.
-Prelude Fugue et Variation, Cesar Franck arr. Remco Jak. The best piece on the Amstel repertoire. We haven't played it for a while but next season we're starting it again. Can't wait :-)
-Florent Schmitt, Legende. I am listening to it now, in Delangle's new version, recorded on BIS. Beautiful music, I will start it this coming season.
-Hindemith Sonata, actually for horn, but also for saxophone. Very good music, Hindemith in general.
-... hm, maybe Creston Sonata. B composers tend to write A-pieces for saxophone, and A-composers B pieces (like Glazounow...)

I have been practicing on my new horn, the Reference, I bought it, I d...

I have been practicing on my new horn, the Reference, I bought it, I decided yesterday. It has a fat sound, maybe too fat for now, but I think I can shape it when I practice more.

Wijnand had a great idea: Bach violin Sonatas for soprano saxophone and piano! I want to play more Bach.

Yesterday Wijnand and me recorded the Mendelssohn Cello Sonata for our new CD 'Roots' (presentation on December 30th in the Concertgebouw. I guess it went alright. It was hard though. I always get insecure about reeds, sound, intonation. But we tried our best. We worked with a different recording guy for the first time. It was very different. He let us play longer stretches of music... I am very curious for the result!
This was the last big thing before the holidays, I have some other appointments but now I can prepare for the holidays. And I am ready for them! I am very tired and I did a lot of things...

Yesterday me and Wijnand played our own 'Concert in the Park', Vondelp...

Yesterday me and Wijnand played our own 'Concert in the Park', Vondelpark Open Air Theater. The circumstances were not ideal, for one, it was raining, and second, we had to play amplified, and third, well, that's been my leitmotiv this past couple of months, I am not sure about my alto. I asked some colleagues who came to listen yesterday and they confirmed that the intonation of the alto can be strange: too low! The day before I found maybe my new alto: a Reference. At Matthews in Edam. I tried many and I felt immeddiately right about this one. Today I am still good on the horn and I have been practicing on it. It is still an option and tonight I will have a colleague listen to it for a second opinion. So I hope this will be it. I am glad I didn't rush my decision last month when I had two other References as an option. They didn't feel good, and this one does. That would mean I can really start working again on a set up that I am happy with. It took some effort and some concerts that I wasn't too sure about but I am about to be all set again!

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Another session with Anner Bijlsma today

Another session with Anner Bijlsma today. We played Mendelssohn again, we worked on the flow of the second movement. Very educational :-) ! We also played Wijnand's Bach arrangement which he loved. As a Bach connaisseur I thought he would have a lot to say but he loved it. Which was great because as a saxophpnist we dont play so much Bach but he he said I had a connection with the music. So that was a great compliment. I invited him for a masterclass next year in Tilburg. That should be great for our students.

My top 5 deserted island list: (in no particular order) -Heavy Metal B...

My top 5 deserted island list: (in no particular order)
-Heavy Metal Bebop Brecker Brothers
-Brahms Clarinet Quintet (with Boeykens please!)
-Michel Camilo One More Once
-Creation du Monde (Milhaud conducting!)
-Gould and Bach

The holidays are coming

The holidays are coming. I am so ready for them. We still need to book something. BUt there isn't enough time. Always too little. I have my solo CD recording next week (Thirsday and Friday) and I am getting ready for them. Very exciting. We are recording the Mendelssohn Cello Sonata in Bb. There will be criticism of course for doing this, but what can you do? We want to play this music and feel strongly about it. It works in the instrument with some adaptations. We had the last quartet activity yesterday. A workshop by the Delta Saxophone Quartet, educaiton. I think we learned something. We don't really have educaitonal projects coming up but they can come in the further future. Anyway we had a good time.

The Hague was looking for a new festival after the North Sea Jazz left...

The Hague was looking for a new festival after the North Sea Jazz left the city. idtv (de Winter) came up with Festival Classique. 150 concert in all of the Hague. We played a concert for the festival today in the Theater aan 't Spui. The festival is a great idea. But I heard that the audience is not coming as much as they expected.We only had about 60 audience in the hall, which was disappointing. Then again, I heard that we are not prominently mentioned in the programme book. The whole presentation of the festival was somewhat old fashioned although the festival was organised by an organisation that had no previous experience with classical music. This can and should be an advantage, but apparantly it wasn't. It was the first edition, next year should be better. It is can be a wonderfull that is great for classical music in the Netherlands. So much good music in so little time in the whole of the Hague.
We played a good concert. It was the last concert of the season with the quartet. We can be proud of it. The audience liked it as well I think. We played a very diverse programme with different styles and we played well!