Music Reviews

Nov 19, 1999 - New Century Sax Quartet Talks a Good Game & Plays One as Well

By Jack Neal

It used to be that if you wanted talk, you turned on Oprah; if you wanted music, you went to Community Concerts. The New Century Saxophone Quartet has turned those two old axioms topsyturvy.

This excellent quartet - Michael Stephenson (soprano sax), Robert Faub (alto sax), Stephen Pollack (tenor sax), Brad Hubbard (baritone sax) - played Reno's Pioneer Center Wednesday (11/17/99). They play too well to talk so much. It's evidently become a selling point from Community Concerts headquarters, wherever that is, that it's as important to be warm and fuzzy as to play well. There's nothing wrong with being personable, but when half the program is spent with chatter that has little or nothing to do with the music that's programmed, talk really does become cheap.

One of the issues trumpeted by the members of the quartet as they talked, and talked, and talked was the relative lack of serious repertoire composed for saxophone quartet. The men of the quartet are reaching out for new works, which is admirable. But a program of eight works, one Mozart, one J.S. Bach, one Stephen Foster, one Scott Joplin - of the known names and all arrangements, leaves but four slots for newer works on an all too short musical program.

I'm not a great one for lots of conversation at musical performances either from the stage or in the audience (a growing nuisance at public performances), but enlightening talk can be, well - enlightening. How much more interesting this concert would have been had some vocal attention been paid to the new works, none of which were terribly exciting - at least not upon first hearing. Dissections of what was going on might have added a little oomph to an audience's appreciation. Beyond creating an interest in the new music played, there tended to be a sameness about much of what was played and there doesn't need to be. Play "arrangements," if need be, there are some good ones just waiting to be played. The San Francisco Saxophone Quartet, for example, doesn't lack for interesting things to program and neither should the New Century Saxophone Quartet.

It's not my intent to be pessimistic where these musicans are concerned. They're splendid. The Mozart, which opened the program, was elegantly played with oodles of control and lots of finesse. The Bach Contrapuncti 1, 5 and 9 from The Art of the Fugue works well with saxophones, the reedy Baroque sound is right at home, and came off insightfully. David Ott's "Three Moods" has possibilities as does Benjamin Boone's "Alley Dance." All were well played. But, once again, the sameness of sound of this program, Turpin's "Pan Am Rag," "Downright Slap-Happy" from Ott's "Three Moods," not to mention Joplin's "The Cascades" and Foster's "Old Folks Quadrilles" leaves me dumfounded as to what these fine musicians are looking for by way of a more substantial level of literature for saxophone.

Fine musicians playing a short, weak program fleshed out with lots of talk is considerably beneath the talents of the New Century Saxophone Quartet.

Next up for Washoe County Community Concerts is pianist Katia Skanavi on February 9, 2000. All Washoe County Community Concerts Association presentations are performed at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South Virginia Street, Reno. For information call 775 686 6600.