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| Creation | 
 enlarge | Creators: Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure, Jacques Ibert, Darius Milhaud, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Branford Marsalis
Label: Sony
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $0.07
You Save: $13.91 (99%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (9 reviews)
Sales Rank: 66165
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 89251
UPC: 696998925120
EAN: 0696998925120
ASIN: B00005A8I4
Release Date: March 6, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-9 of 9 | | « PREV | | |
 A Bland Waste June 15, 2001
6 out of 12 found this review helpful
What a waste. Instead of a follow-up to the delightful and well produced "Romances for Saxophone," Branford and Company have released an utterly boring and tedious soporific of a CD with barely one (the final cut) interesting track. I'd go so far as to say the CD is pretty much unlistenable if you expect from Marsalis and Orpheus what we know they can do. The bland cuts on this CD actually grate on my ears they are so milquetoast. If choosing between this and The Offspring, at least go with the musicians who have something to say and say it well in the latter. Look for my copy of "Creation" on the auction block.
The Creation of an Enjoyable Disc April 20, 2001
31 out of 38 found this review helpful
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis comes from a family of Louisiana musicians--his father, Ellis, is an important jazz pianist and professor of Music at the University of New Orleans, and his more well-known younger brother, Winton, has achieved much acclaim as a trumpeter in both jazz and classical worlds and as a composer of significance. Branford is probably most well-known to American audiences as the leader of the Tonight Show orchestra, and while jazz is certainly his greatest interest he has worked with rock musicians Sting and the Grateful Dead, among others. In this CD, Creation, he expands his horizons to include french art music of the late 19th and early 20th century, performing transcriptions and originals of pieces by Faure, Satie, Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, and Ibert. One qualm I have is that the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, one of the finest chamber ensembles in America, is scarcely given a chance as an equal partner. Darius Milhaud's La Creation du Monde is NOT a saxophone concerto, and although the first time I heard this interpretation I was intrigued, by the second listening I found the forward presence of the sax inappropriately overwhelming, especially in passages like the fugato.Marsalis is a fine saxophonist, but frankly, there are better. His vibrato, so often the factor that leads saxophonists astray, is well-controlled, but his tone quality is a bit thin. Whether this is because he has crossed over to literature that is less familiar to him I am not sure, or perhaps he is more accustomed to performing with amplification and various processing. Nonetheless, these are generally fine performances, and I`d much rather listen to this than Kenny G's trivia. Tempi are appropriate, wonderfully brisk at times, and the musical selection is interesting. In some of the slower movements, such Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess (Pavane pour une infante defunte), Marsalis seems a little at a loss in his interpretation. But in the faster movements the performances are delightful. The saxophone is of course the ultimate crossover instrument (with the guitar, that is), and that the music on the disc is French, like the saxophone itself, with some American jazz influences, like Marsalis himself, is perfectly appropriate. The saxophone is a fairly modern instrument, created by the Belgian Adolphe Sax in Paris in the 1840's, and promoted by his friend Hector Berlioz. It originally came in 14 different sizes (only 4 are common now, of which Marsalis plays soprano, alto, and tenor--although only the first two on this CD.) Adolphe Sax's first significant success was in having the saxophone adopted by French military bands. To achieve this he set up a competition between a standard military band and a band composed exclusively of saxophones. I know some musicians to whom this would be a nightmare, and on what basis the competition was judged has apparently been lost to history. Certainly the saxophone is an extraordinarily acoustically efficient instrument and is easily capable of the widest dynamic range of any of the woodwinds--perhaps it simply and literally blew away the competition. The homogeneity of sound might also have been in its favor. The sax became popular in American dance bands around World War I, and the jazz influence on French composers like Ravel and Milhaud began at about the same time. Reflecting this, the energetic performance of Milhaud's Scaramouche is one of the highlights of the disc, and here the sax IS intended as a solo instrument. My final qualm is that there is a maddening lack of information on the disc. The notes, by author Rafi Zabor, are articulate and a pleasure to read, but there is no biographical information on Marsalis, and not even a mention of which saxophones he plays in the various pieces. While many listeners may already have this information, it seems a fairly basic thing to provide. Otherwise, though, I recommend this as an enjoyable disc.
 Nice Nice Nice Work April 1, 2001
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
I've been waiting for this recording. It's very nice to listen to at any time! Get ROMANCES FOR SAXOPHONE.nice
Branford! Branford!! Branford!!! March 14, 2001
9 out of 15 found this review helpful
Branford has absolutely no difficulties in expressing different forms of music, whether from world, pop, hip-hop and of course Jazz. I must confess that I am not into classical though I have some recordings by Otto Malling and Oliver Messiaen. This album is a breaking through for saxophonist who think that saxophone are no good instruments for classical. Branford displayed some of the most intelligent arpeggios, what really made this CD fun is the creativity, despite of being "locked up" by the strict classical rules. The orchestra has no conductor, that means they can go in any directions they want, suiting the mood of the saxophonist. There are some arching beautiful pieces like , ,< Pie Jesu>, relieving some touching moments that brought warm tears of happiness to the listeners. Some of my personal favorites are , and the humorous . Branford seems to make all the difficult arpeggios sounds so easy. The great thing about having a Jazz giant like Branford doing classical is, there are many opportunities to stretch out, unlike the pure classical musicians where they are bound to follow the rules. The neoclassic concertino movement 3, is entirely innovative and sophisticated, Branford exploit the fact that he is a Jazz musician, improvising his own cadenzas, unleashing a near torrential storming of notes, played with an aggressiveness we won't likely hear in a pure classical musician.Regardless of whether you are a pure Jazz fan or a pure classical fan, you won't deny the fact that there are so much beauty, fun and laughter present in the music. I am not really a classical fan, but I just can't help getting hooked by the intelligence and beauty that came out from this work. Branford has made a landmark for classical saxophone music. An unexceptional masterpiece...
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