Brilliant Fantasy

On June 22, 1846, under number 3,226 of the French Patent Office, the patent for a new family of instruments was registered – that of the saxophone. The goal of Belgian inventor Adolphe Sax was to develop an instrument that produced a pleasing sound even in low registers, while also being able to hold its own in open-air concerts. The French composer Hector Berlioz was an early advocate for the saxophone, attesting that the wind instrument was agile in fast passages, but also suitable for "graceful, religious, and dreamy cantilenas." Initially intended primarily for military bands, the instrument gained popularity in jazz and increasingly in popular music. Several factors contributed to the saxophone's growing popularity: its sound was well-suited for early mechanical and electromechanical recording processes. Furthermore, the saxophone was as present in early sound films as it was in fine art – for example, in Otto Dix's "Grossstadt" triptych. Not least due to its organically appealing shape, the instrument developed into an iconic emblem of modernity. At the same time, it still remains rather a marginal phenomenon in classical concert life.

In this concert with the Swiss Orchestra and French saxophonist Valentine Michaud, the saxophone now takes center stage: with its versatile and expressive tone – sometimes soft and dreamy, sometimes sharp and piercing, sometimes melancholic and lamenting, sometimes passionate or playful – the woodwind instrument is capable of evoking diverse associations and inner images: from nocturnal cityscapes to intimate, personal moments. The New Year's concert is therefore themed "Brilliant Fantasy." In addition to Alexander Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto, François Borne's "Fantaisie Brillante" is also on the program – a virtuosic piece featuring well-known melodies from Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen." Alongside two string serenades by Joseph Lauber and Antonín Dvořák, and two New Year's classics by Johann Strauss Senior and Junior, Frank Martin's "Pavane couleur du temps" will also be performed: a composition that owes its name to a fairy tale by Charles Perrault, in which a princess tries to escape a demanded incestuous marriage by requesting a dress in the "color of a storm" – "couleur du temps orageux."

VALENTINE MICHAUD, saxophone
SWISS ORCHESTRA
LENA-LISA WÜSTENDÖRFER, conductor

FRANK MARTIN
‍Pavane couleur du temps

JOSEPH LAUBER
Sérénade pour orchestre à cordes

ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Concerto in E-flat major for alto saxophone and string orchestra Op. 109

FRANÇOIS BORNE
«Fantaisie Brillante sur des airs de Carmen»

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Serenade in E major for string orchestra Op. 22

JOHANN STRAUSS (JUNIOR, 1825–1899)
Annen-Polka Op. 117‍

JOHANN STRAUSS (SENIOR, 1804–1849)
Radetzky March