Taking Stephen Lias’s set of six pieces, Imaginary Folksongs, as the title for their new recording, saxophone and piano Duo HaLo, with Andrew Harrison on sax and Jason Lo, play music that places equal emphasis on both sides of the partnership. Rather than sax accompanied by piano, these are pieces for Saxophone and Piano, equally.
Duo HaLo
Andrew Harrison is currently Professor of Classical Saxophone at Sonoma State University, with a DMA from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, which is where he met pianist Jason Lo, who is at the University of La Verne. They formed their duo in 2018 and have given hundreds of concerts over the past eight years.
Stephen Lias (b. 1966) wrote his Imaginary Folksongs suite for saxophonist Stephen Nabb, and they aren’t very songlike but do take us to wonderful places in the imagination, from Titiana’s Bower to High in the Andes. Half of the six songs are played on soprano sax and the other half on alto sax, and it is this change of timbre that makes the set so engaging.
Stephen Lias
The final movement takes us to the pub, The Three Jolly Pigeons, where a playful melody dances us around and around.
Stephen Lias: Imaginary Folksongs – IV. The Three Jolly Pigeons (Duo HaLo)
The suite of three spirituals by Florence Price, originally written in 1933 for violin and piano, was one of Price’s first successful works.
Florence Price (colourized)
Here, transcribed for sax and piano, from its original for violin and piano (and before that, for voice and piano, and other combinations). Moreso than in the Lias folksongs, these are true songs, with a melody that’s both familiar and subject to the composer’s art. They’re beautiful arrangements, and the sax and piano combination carries them off well.
Lori Laitman
The recording ends with three very different works. American composer Lori Laitman (b. 1955) takes us on a Journey. She started the work as a song with words, but refigured it as work for sax and piano. The original poem was one of melancholy and memory, cast as a slave woman’s memory of her harrowing trip from Africa, and in the voice of the saxophone, her sorrow comes through clearly.
Ryota Ishikawa
Japanese composer Ryota Ishikawa (b. 1983) wrote Rhapsody on Japanese Folksongs on commission for saxophonist Nobuya Sugawa. It has become one of his most popular works.
Jennifer Jolley
The recording closes with Lilac Tears by Jennifer Jolley (b. 1981). The Lilac refers to the King of Purple, Prince, and the work takes its inspiration from Prince’s 2004 solo ‘at the end of an all-star tribute performance of The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps at George Harrison’s posthumous induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’, according to the composer.
Duo HaLo wanders far and wide through music’s hall of fame – from contemporary Japanese folksong to traditional spirituals, from imaginary songs to a rock cadenza filled with memories of the past. Ishikawa’s work opens with an expansive pentatonic salute while Price’s keeps to internal memories. All are beautifully played by Duo HaLo with their aural combination that keeps interest in the forefront. The saxophone, although an instrument developed for the French military bands and a late-comer to the classical world, relatively speaking, shows both its lyrical and melancholic qualities in the hand of Andrew Harrison, while Jason Lo’s piano is more than just accompaniment and is a true partner in the music.
Imaginary Folksongs: Works for Saxophone and Piano by Lias, Price, Laitman, Ishikawa, and Jolley
Duo HaLo: Andrew Harrison, saxophones; Jason Lo, piano
Azure Sky Records AZ1003
Official Website
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