#
#
- About
- Biography
- Awards
- Organisation
- Repertoire
- Commissions
- Concert repertoire
- Light repertoire
- Press & Media
- Reviews and Quotes
- Sound Samples
- Videos
- Photographs
- Press kit
Archive for the ‘Reviews and Quotes’ Category
Flux Reviews
The Independent
Andy Gill (8th April 2011)
Given the instrument’s historical context, the Lunar Saxophone Quartet operate where classical shades into jazz. Hence the inclusion of Keith Tippett’s Five Short Pieces, playfully evoking occupations of antiquity (archery, smithing, fencing) and the dance pieces comprising Eric Schwarz’s 4 Chair Legs. Elsewhere, scientific schema inspire Gabriel Jackson’s LM-7: Aquarius, a virtuosic piece about the Lunar Module. The highlights though, are less dynamic: James Williamson’s In Memoriam is achingly contemplative, while the title of Lucy Pankhurst’s Diaphanousphere suggests the delicate webs of sound created by the quartet.
These Visions Reviews
Musical Pointers
Peter Grahame Woolf (November 2010)
The Welsh composers for this saxophone quartet, recorded in Ty Cerdd June/July, range in age from early twenties to ’50s, and all are interesting in different ways. LSQ stress that they like to work with composers from early rehearsals “when the music gets done”. Commissioning new scores is the life-blood of their repertoire; there is “no fallback postion into repertoire of the past”. The disc is very up-to-date; one of the pieces had its premiere only this month…
I tend to be cautious with ‘classical’ saxophones; they can be strident and assertive, especially in small-venue recitals, but here the sound is home-friendly, mainly discreet and mellow. Signum’s production is strikingly good; properly informative and interesting notes, with graphic design and photography unified.
The Independent
Andy Gill (10th December 2010)
The Lunar Saxophone Quartet is reliant largely on specific commissions, which gives their repertoire a modern flavour, with pieces written for them by composers such as John Metcalf and Hilary Tann.
Both have work included here, alongside younger Welsh composers such as Christopher Painter, whose five-part Lunar Seas suite bestows descriptive realisations of moon features – eg. the misty “Sea Of Vapours” and the animated “Ocean Of Storms”. Metcalf’s On Song features gently interleaving lines of soprano, alto and tenor saxes over resonant baritone, while Tann’s Some Of The Silence is inspired by a haiku, “a deep gorge…/some of the silence/is me”, and presents a world of calm and solitude.
Catching Sunlight Reviews
Independent on Sunday
Phil Johnson , 14 December 2008
….individual pieces rank among the best performances I’ve heard all year. Commissioned by the Lunar Saxophone Quartet, composer/ pianist Stapleton’s masterstroke was to add trumpeter Neil Yates, who is revealed as a total star. If you like the Miles Davis of ‘Lift to the Scaffold’, you’ll love what Yates does here.
Vortex Jazz Website
November 2008
….this eleven‐piece commission for the Lunar Saxophone Quartet is subtitled ‘Music to an imaginary film’ – unsurprisingly, it is suitably dramatic, evocative and many‐hued…..the resultant work is rich and colourful, the LSQ providing harmonic ‘thickening’ to the ensemble sound as well as the odd sonorous, graceful solo (Joel Garthwaite’s soprano particularly ear catching, with its almost oboe like purity and elegance), and Yates compelling, vibrant and agile throughout.
Cardiff Jazz Society
Ken Cheetham, November 2008
…I think it is, simply, brilliant. Here is some of the best new jazz around, both in conception and writing and its performance is exquisite. It really is brilliant.
The JazzMann
Ian Mann, Wednesday, November 05, 2008
The Lunar Saxophone Quartet fill an essentially textural role, adding colour to the ensemble passages and operating as a unit….Jazz soloing is not their business but their role in the overall success of the project is pivotal. Stapleton’s writing is rich and colourful and passes through many variations of mood and pace, sometimes in the course of a single piece.
JazzWise Magazine
Selwyn Harris 24th October 2008
….Contemporary ensemble recordings can sometimes get bogged down in textural detail only serving to obscure the whole. But not here; Stapleton creates a vivid canvas by setting contrasting layers of recurring rhythmic patterns against a strong melodic thrust.