Parabolically Bach

The liner notes for this release are too sparse. One learns that the title refers to the parabolic bore of the original saxophone, which lends the old-style instruments used here an organ-like sound, but not why the shape of the bore has this effect or why the sound was later considered undesirable. The Sax-Chamber Orchestra, an organization based at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, is actually something of a collection of historically authentic instruments, with both saxophones and mouthpieces made to the original specifications laid out in Sax's patents. If you play the saxophone, you should hear this group. It does indeed sound collectively like an organ, and the arrangements of three famous works for organ heard at the beginning (the first is the very familiar Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565) are delightful -- you won't be able to quite pin down what instrument it is you're hearing. The ensemble includes the rare sopranino and bass saxophones, for a full sax complement capable of handling orchestral works such as the cantata movements on tracks 4 through 8, representing a little cycle running from Christ's birth through his crucifixion. The Sax-Chamber Orchestra is rich but not especially agile, and the arrangement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, BWV 1051, even at the very moderate tempos taken, comes off as a bit lumbering, as do some of the passages of rapid passagework in the organ pieces. Nevertheless, Sax actually envisioned that saxophones would be used in large ensembles like this, and nobody else has released a comparable experiment. For an offbeat disc to pass around at band practice, this is just the thing. ~ James Manheim, All Music Guide