Saxophone Journal

May/June 1996

by Timothy Roberts

Every month I receive letters, tapes, and e-mail responses from saxophone quartets around the world desiring to be discussed in this column. We can’t get to every saxophone quartet immediately because we only publish six times each year, but please keep trying.

About six months ago we received a new CD from a group called the New Century Saxophone Quartet. I’ve listened to this recording several times, and I have to admit I’m hooked. They’re stimulating and refreshing. These guys aren’t just saxophonists, they’re consummate, dedicated, and professional musicians that stand up to the best of chamber ensembles of any instrumentation anywhere. After talking with them recently, I’ve found out that this image is exactly the one that they’re after.

Originally known as the New World Saxophone Quartet (not to be confused with the World Saxophone Quartet), the New Century Saxophone Quartet took their present identity in 1992, shortly after becoming the only saxophone ensemble to ever win first prize at the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. James Boatman (alto) and Stephen Pollock (tenor) formed the group’s original concept, the North Carolina Saxophone Quartet, as students at the North Carolina School of the Arts back in 1981. All four members studied under James Houlik. In its present form with Michael Stephenson (soprano) and Brad Hubbard (baritone), the ensemble is only eight years old. Today they make their base in Winston-Salem North Carolina.

The New Century Saxophone Quartet is also the first saxophone ensemble to have performed at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California. Heralding their West Coast debut, the LA Times said, “Tackling brave new territory in the conservative-leaning realm of classical music takes a unique blend of conviction, refined talent and a bit of damn-the-torpedoes ambition.... Inherently, the New Century Saxophone Quartet is a crusading unit, spreading the gospel about this maligned instrument’s serious aspi­rations. They make believers here.”

They’ve performed with the U.S. Navy Band in Washington and they’ve done recitals in Pick-Staiger Hall in Chicago, Spivey Concert Hall in Atlanta, and Symphony Hall Open House in Boston. They recently finished a recital/masterclass tour of Panama, where their documentary television show was broadcast over the entire country. The NEA has funded a year-long program that has sent the quartet into the rural schools of North Carolina for educational performances. And for the last several summers the NCSQ has been the chamber group in resi­dence at the Wildacres music workshop in the hills of North Carolina.

Recently, the New Century Saxophone Quartet performed at the White House for President Clinton. But the NCSQ’s greatest claim to fame so far has been the Concert Artists Guild winning of 1992. At this competition, the young quartet was placed up against soloists and chamber ensembles of any and all other instrumentations, including pianists. To come out on top while playing instruments that are often discriminated against was quite an accomplishment. From this award, the group received a New York debut at Weill Recital Hall; a performance that was described by the New York Post as a “virtuostic display of dexterity and keen ensem­ble work.” The competition also brought the NCSQ a recording contract with Channel Classics that has produced two CD recordings.

Their first CD, Drastic Measures, was most characteristic of a quartet recital program. On the just released second CD (still untitled at the time of this writing), Mr. Pollock shared with me that the group was able to “sound more like saxophonists.” With a theme centering almost entirely on the music of American composers, we get to hear the talents of the ensemble in totally original arrangements of West Side Story, Porgy and Bess, three pieces by Morton Gould, and three other short piano pieces of George Gershwin.

Mr. Boatman, impressively enough, is the arranger for the NCSQ and has arranged every note of music on this second recording effort. The West Side Story work in particular includes parts for twenty-four different percussion instruments. Even in performance, these percussion parts are all performed by one instrumentalist, Mr. Steve Kirkman, a close friend of the group (as you can imagine, the percussion section takes up the majority of the stage area!) While entirely unique, Boatman has attempted to keep all of his arrangements as close to the original scores as possible. A vibraphone and glockenspiel are used to cover the piano lines. All percussion notes are entirely writ­ten out.

With Drastic Measures, Boatman tried to first look for music that performers of other in­struments had largely ignored, and then decide if it would work for a saxophone quartet. For in­stance, Mozart’s Zwolf Variationen in C, K 265 (or, variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) is hardly ever used on piano (except for an early Glenn Gould recording), and Jan Pieterszoon’s Fantasia is rarely ever performed on organ. Both pieces work beautifully, and are again, entirely original. For their third CD project, the NCSQ hopes to include a new piece by Sherwood Shaffer, along with a brand new Concert Artists Guild-led commission by Lenny Pickett that will also be performed at Merkin Concert Hall in New York in the Spring of 1997.

So, what is the predominant intelligence for such an inspiring and professional group of musicians? In short, explains Pollock, “to get out of their saxophone heads!” He explains that too many a saxophone quartet sound like just that, a saxophone quartet. He describes further that string quartets know how to play Mozart and Beethoven, they were around during the time of composition. Saxophonists have to work harder at understanding how to interpret this legitimate music, rather than simply closing themselves in on contemporary and atonal saxophone music.

“Is a saxophone quartet accepted like a string quartet? No, I don’t think so. Yo-Yo Ma didn’t get to be famous playing cello conventions. We need to get ourselves away from these saxophone conventions and start learning the difference between Mozart and (Russell) Peck and Mozart and Bach. No one has set a standard for our medium yet. We must get ourselves as musicians first and saxophonists second, and do our best to raise the standards of what is expected of a saxophone quartet. Our group is not anywhere near that yet, but we feel like were getting there. We’re still waiting for our greatest accomplishment: to play great quartet music, and be able to support ourselves entirely doing just that.”

From the sounds of Drastic Measures, it sounds as if the New Century Saxophone Quartet is well on their way towards accomplishing that goal.

Having just finished a concert tour Juneau, Alaska, the NCSQ can be heard this June at the Wildacres music workshop in Little Switzerland, North Carolina.