For the first time, in this new stage that we have just begun, we were able to perform a new composition work dedicated to us. The absolute premiere of the work Sax Quartet by Eduardo Soutullo took place on November 12 in Puebla de la Calzada, Extremadura, in a concert framed in the XIV Ciclo Actual de Música de Badajoz.
The saxophone is a modern instrument with a very small repertoire compared to other instruments. It lives in constant evolution and, since its birth in the 1840s, did not fail to show its surprising versatility to adapt to the wave of musical currents that shook the twentieth century and the first decades of the twenty-first century. The performers, more and more numerous and with better preparation, contribute to their progress taking their sound possibilities to the maximum exponent, uploading it to scenarios that it did not yet know and, of course, playing the new music made for him.
The first work dedicated to Lítore Quartet arises from a proposal we made to the composer Eduardo Soutullo just a year ago. Thanks to its excellent disposition we were able to give birth to a piece that, since November 12, is already part of the original repertoire for saxophone quartet. The work of composers is essential on this path, and that is why during these months we immerse between a bunch of roles and the tedious bureaucracy with the aim of paying back the work of Eduardo, a goal we achieved thanks to the economic assumption of the Instituto Nacional de Artes Escénicas y de la Música.
With the only guidelines of composing a work of approximately 8 minutes for instrumental formation of soprano saxophones, alto, tenor and baritone, Soutullo devised a piece with a spatial distribution of the quartet far from the usual format. In what is his first Sax Quartet, Eduardo proposes the placement of the soprano and the alto above the stage and the tenor and baritone below, in the balconies or terraces, all separated from each other, with the aim of surrounding the audience sonorously. This work is inspired by the polychoral style that existed in Venice back in the 16th century (Cori Spezzati), which was cultivated by Renaissance authors such as Giovanni Gabrieli in liturgical spaces such as the Cathedral of San Marco in this Italian city. At that time, it was usual to distribute in different spaces of the churches several choirs, and this provoked effects of echo and other sonorous peculiarities in which Soutullo was inspired to compose his new work. Despite this Renaissance inspiration, the harmonic language is very different from that era, creating a discourse with a sonority and energy that undoubtedly bears the hallmark of Eduardo Soutullo. The audience, therefore, receives the sounds of the quartet fragmented into four, in a sound experience starring the echo, the stereo sound and a new perception of the saxophone quartet.
On November 13 we also performed this work in Nigrán, Galicia, and there we could work briefly with Eduardo on some musical issues before the concert. As always, it is very enriching to work with composers, since from them we learn new interpretative visions very useful for our development. We hope to repeat this experience many times in the future!
This is our first contribution to creating an original repertoire for saxophone quartet. Thank you, Eduardo, for putting faith in the saxophone and for counting on us to bring your music to life.
