Grisey - Anubis et Nout
(1990)
This messy, plodding, splurging work for bass saxophone is uncompromising and raw. Slowly shifting microtones attacked hard create a fatiguing and unsettling atmosphere. Despite the multiphonic shrieks we also exposed to the tender side of this rarer instrument in Adolphe's family. The tone is markedly different to the baritone in some registers and rich in harmonics. The instrument sounds like some great dying monster, padding around until the final knell sounds. Light slap tongue articulation alternates with a gradually descending line. The variety of timbres achieved is really quite extraordinary, from the brittle to the obnoxious. Anubis was a dog like god of the Egyptians associated with mummification and the afterlife. The piece does have a certain ancient mystery and impenetrability to it. Suggestive of strange rites and superstitions, this work probably lacks enough competent bass sax players to be widely performed, but has been expertly recorded by Marie-Bernadette Charrier.
Nout
This begins with beautiful meanderings between lower harmonics such that we almost hear fundamentals and overtones together. A gentler if still slightly menacing atmosphere is presented here, compared to the terror of Anubis. The microtonality yields a difficult set of intervals to feel comfortable with, but the richness of the low notes function almost as brief moments of resolution in this strangely pretty work.
This messy, plodding, splurging work for bass saxophone is uncompromising and raw. Slowly shifting microtones attacked hard create a fatiguing and unsettling atmosphere. Despite the multiphonic shrieks we also exposed to the tender side of this rarer instrument in Adolphe's family. The tone is markedly different to the baritone in some registers and rich in harmonics. The instrument sounds like some great dying monster, padding around until the final knell sounds. Light slap tongue articulation alternates with a gradually descending line. The variety of timbres achieved is really quite extraordinary, from the brittle to the obnoxious. Anubis was a dog like god of the Egyptians associated with mummification and the afterlife. The piece does have a certain ancient mystery and impenetrability to it. Suggestive of strange rites and superstitions, this work probably lacks enough competent bass sax players to be widely performed, but has been expertly recorded by Marie-Bernadette Charrier.
Nout
This begins with beautiful meanderings between lower harmonics such that we almost hear fundamentals and overtones together. A gentler if still slightly menacing atmosphere is presented here, compared to the terror of Anubis. The microtonality yields a difficult set of intervals to feel comfortable with, but the richness of the low notes function almost as brief moments of resolution in this strangely pretty work.