“SAXOPHONES FOUR.” Ralph Gari Saxophone Quartet. Orion...

“SAXOPHONES FOUR.” Ralph Gari Saxophone Quartet. Orion ORS 85485. This record deserves the highest praise. Glazunov’s B-flat Quartet seems a dull piece, yet it is here rendered with a spirit that lifts it to a higher plain, far above, a competing recording by the Netherlands Saxophone Quartet. Pierne’s Introduction and Variations is a jewel here polished to finest splendor. The music surges forward without losing its clarity and phrasing. And the sound of Ralph Gari’s soprano saxophone at times casts a spell so sweet that the tone alone, shorn of all else, would still be music, or at least a pleasant substitute.