Horizons brings together works that span more than a century of musical imagination, tracing the saxophone’s evolution from its early twentieth-century lyricism to some of the most adventurous voices of today. Performed by Don-Paul Kahl (saxophone) and Arnaud Dos Santos (piano), this program explores the many identities of an instrument that continues to balance tradition, virtuosity, intimacy, and reinvention.
The deeply expressive and richly sculpted writing of Fernande Decruck stands alongside the unmistakable color and fluidity of Claude Debussy, whose music helped shape the saxophone’s earliest artistic voice. In contrast, the boundary-pushing musical languages of Luciano Berio and William Albright reveal the instrument as a vehicle for theatricality, raw energy, improvisatory spirit, and fearless technical innovation.
Looking toward the present, Horizons also celebrates new artistic voices through the European premieres of works by Eunji Lee and Chaya Czernowin, the latter presented in a new arrangement by Don-Paul Kahl. Together, these works invite listeners into a sonic landscape where memory and discovery, fragility and intensity, tradition and experimentation coexist, each pointing toward new horizons for the saxophone in the twenty-first century.
Program
- Fernande Decruck (1896-1954) - Sonate en C# mineur
- Luciano Berio (1925-2003) - Sequenza VIIb
- William Albright (1944-1998) - Sonata
- Eunji Lee (1993) - Blinding Light - EU premiere
- Chaya Czernowin (1957), arr. Don-Paul Kahl - The last leaf - EU premiere
- Claude Debussy (1944-1998) - Rhapsodie