In 2007, Filip Davidse (Saxophone) and Naomi Tamura (Piano) invited me to work with them on their recording of ‘The Soviet Saxophone’. A very interesting concept since the saxophone was a ‘suspicious’ instrument in the former Soviet Union. In the late nineteen sixties and seventies a group of young composers formed the ‘Association for Contemporary Music’ (ACM). This group of composers focused on the musical developments in the west. One can imagine that this was not stimulated by the government but still they managed to organize their own concerts and gatherings to talk about music. The group also invited musicians like Pierre Boulez from the west to share their thoughts and music. At the beginning of the nineties most of the composers from the ACM moved to western countries like England and Canada.
On this disc you will find not only pieces from ACM composers (Dmitri Smirnov, Vladislav Shoot, Faradj Karayev and Nikolaj Korndorf) but also the Sonata no 2 opus 94 by Sergei Prokofiev. This sonata was composed for Flute and Piano, later transcribed for the violin and now played on saxophone!
Ik was a great pleasure to work with Filip and Naomi and to experience the creativity and sometimes surprising musical effects in the music of the ACM composers. We recorded the CD in the Bethaniënklooster in Amsterdam. Located at one of the dark and narrow streets of the red light district this concert hall organizes concerts and other cultural activities.
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Recording Location: Bethaniënklooster, Amsterdam
Recording Producer: Daan van Aalst, Filip Davidse
Recording engineer and editing: Daan van Aalst
Special thanks to Frits Vroom
