Sax and the city

In our chamber concerts at the Philharmonic in Szczecin, we aim to present selected musical subjects – a historical period, a musical process, a composer, a phenomenon or a particular ensemble. This time, for the first time in as long as we can remember, we are dedicating a classical chamber concert to an instrument: the saxophone, an instrument associated primarily with jazz, whose possibilities we will explore in a programme entitled Crimes.

The “crime” committed by the members of The WHOOP Group is that they recognise no sacred cows in classical music. They take away Mozart’s orchestra, Vivaldi’s violins and Grieg’s piano, and give their music to four saxophones. Music we have become accustomed to hearing in a particular sound world changes colour, energy and character in their hands. And they do it entirely deliberately.

The saxophone is one of the youngest instruments to appear on the classical concert stage. Invented only in the nineteenth century, it is far more commonly associated with jazz, big bands and popular music than with Mozart and Vivaldi. The WHOOP Group turns these expectations upside down. Four instruments – soprano, alto, tenor and baritone – create an ensemble with an enormous range of colours: they can be light and extraordinarily agile, then suddenly sound almost like an orchestral section, and moments later produce a powerful, almost organ-like fullness of sound.

Perhaps the greatest “crime” of all is Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. One of the most famous cycles of violin concertos in history will be performed without violins and without an orchestra. The WHOOP Group has selected some of its most spectacular passages: the first movement of Winter, the finale of Autumn and the violent storm that brings Summer to a close. Their performance of the latter became one of the group’s biggest online hits.

The WHOOP Group has made this approach its trademark from the very beginning. The ensemble specialises in original arrangements of classical repertoire as well as contemporary music and its own compositions. Their debut album, Crimes, released in 2018, earned the quartet a nomination for the Koryfeusz Muzyki Polskiej award in the Discovery of the Year category. Today, their interpretations demonstrate that a musical “crime” can have surprisingly positive consequences.

Because if, after hearing Vivaldi performed by four saxophones, we begin to hear something new in his music – perhaps it is sometimes worth breaking a few rules!