Developed in the early 19th century by its namesake Adolphe Saxe, the saxophone has held a peripheral position in concert music, at best. The instrument was welcomed in marching bands and later jazz, where we still tend to count its finest exponents – Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter. During the last century, the French showed a fascination for the instrument leading composers like Debussy, Ravel and Françaix to write for the instrument. Yet it has remained a specialised area. The idea of a quartet of such instruments is rarer still. In fact my only previous live encounter with this format was in an Adelaide Festival performance by the Rauschèr Saxophone Quartet in Philip Glass’s Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra.

Signum Saxophone Quartet and Kristian Winther. Photo supplied.

For their first Australian tour, Musica Viva has chosen to present the Signum Saxophone Quartet with Australian violinist Kristian Winther in a diverse and attractive program of arrangements of works by Bach, Weill, Bernstein and Gershwin. From the opening phrases of Bach’s familiar Italian Concerto, it was apparent that here was...