0608917295023

Solo

Raaf Hekkema

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Format: SACD

Cat No: CC72950

Release Date:  26 May 2023

Label:  Challenge Classics

Packaging Type:  Super Jewel Case (SACD)

No of Units:  1

Barcode:  0608917295023

Genres:  Classical  

  • Description

    Virtuoso classical saxophone player Raaf Hekkema presents Solo, a new solo album of works by J S Bach.

    The pandemic in 2020-21 brought little to dispel the gloom among performing musicians. But these months also proved to be a time of reflection and artistic rebirth for many, the arts became a breeding ground for spiritual offspring, and so it proved for me; the genesis of the work you can hear on this album. Finally, there was plenty of time to spend many hours every day working on the project against a background of calm, which made Bach's music all the more comforting!

    The prime cut with which I open this album is the Sonata I have assembled from Bach's three sonatas for solo violin. Even though a sonata in six movements may go against musical tradition, I feel it is a very satisfactory solution from a musical perspective.

    Soon after this, I cast my greedy eye over the earlier works for organ and harpsichord. The Chromatic Fantasia symbolises early Bach for me; a composer who was heavily influenced by the fantastical style of his idol and predecessor Dieterich Buxtehude.

    I made a pilgrimage to my own hero of early music, Ton Koopman. His enthusiasm for my arrangements grew as our meeting progressed. I am deeply grateful to him for his generous assistance.

    The Fantasia BWV 922 seemed to be a bigger task altogether. I was keen to let my own creative juices flow in order to adapt the texture in such a way that I could still do the greatest justice to the music's harmonic complexity and sweeping argument.

    Before this, however, I had already set about arranging Bach's most famous organ work, the Toccata and Fugue. Generally, I would describe it as a good idea to avoid fugues for what I have in mind, but this one was relatively straightforward for me.

    My arrangement of the Partita BWV 1013 is perhaps the simplest of all my Bach transcriptions. All I had to do was transpose this into a key I considered to be better suited to my instrument. I play it on a 1924 curved Buescher soprano saxophone with a matching Buescher mouthpiece. Using historical saxophones may result in a lighter and more transparent sound.

    The same argument also applies to the Prelude and Allegro from BWV 998, which I recorded on a straight Buescher alto saxophone made in 1927.

    CRITICAL ACCLAIM

    "With this fourth solo album (of which three were released by Challenge Classics) Raaf Hekkema has constituted a Guide to the Saxophone that is not only ideal for saxophonists, and conservatoria but also for multiple other interested parties." - HRAudio.net Performance 5 STARS / Sonics 5 STARS

  • Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. Adagio BWV 1001/1
      • 2. Allegro BWV 1003/4
      • 3. Largo BWV 1005/3
      • 4. Allegro assai BWV 1005/4
      • 5. Grave BWV 1003/1
      • 6. Presto BWV 1001/4
      • 7. Chromatic Fantasia BWV 903
      • 8. Fantasia BWV 922
      • 9. Prelude & Allegro BWV 998 Prelude
      • 10. Prelude & Allegro BWV 998 Allegro
      • 11. Partita BWV 1013I. Allemande
      • 12. Partita BWV 1013II. Corrente
      • 13. Partita BWV 1013III. Sarabande
      • 14. Partita BWV 1013IV. Bourrée anglaise