New recording by Quirk saxophone quartet.
Nine Pieces for Five Players by renowned composer and saxophonist Richard Ingham was originally commissioned and written for the Plume Quintet. The original wind quintet version was later rewritten as a saxophone quintet for the Quirk saxophone quartet, becoming a standard SATB quartet with additional soprano. Five of the movements highlight each of the players in turn.
Quirk travelled North to the Highlands of Scotland to meet Richard at Watercolour Music. An amazing location for a studio, nestled among the hills surrounded by spectacular views. We were there for two days working with producer Nick Turner recording nine movements, with Richard joining us on soprano saxophone.
Among the many aspects that made this an interesting project was the stylistic differences of the movements. Some lean towards contemporary saxophone, others sub-tone tenor saxophone ballad, and folk, and slapstick… Not long before the recording Richard took delivery of a new Yamaha soprano saxophone (bits kept falling off his other saxophones); what better way to see if you like it than to enter the stratospheric altissimo range in a recording.
