Isakar Duo - Sax vanité: The Thousand Colours of Saxophone (2020)

Operatic fantasies, expressive idylls, a taste for the exotic, brilliant virtuosity … The programme offered in this CD by the Isakar Duo (Isabella Stabio on the saxophones and Carmelo Luca Sambataro at the piano) is a glinting rainbow embracing the full technical-expressive potential of the saxophone.
We begin with the French harmonies and the sublimely singing tones of the contralto saxophone employed in the Aria by Eugène Bozza (a classic of the repertoire) and end with the perky, sensual Valse Vanité by Rudy Wiedoeft, played on the C-melody sax, meeting a phantasmagoria of sonority along the way. First of all, we find two sparkling operatic fantasies. François Borne’s rousing setting of themes from Bizet’s Carmen, edited here by Roth and Meylan, is followed by Jean-Baptiste Singelée’s virtuoso take on famous themes from Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In the former, the contralto sax imitates the acrobatics of the flute while, in the latter, the soprano sax evokes a concertante violin. Also from the operatic stage, the oneiric atmospheres waft in of the “Méditation” from Jules Masset’s "Thaïs". Here again, the soprano sax assumes the role of the violin.