Let me say from
the outset that not for a very long time have I been so captivated
by a disc. Paganini’s caprices, the pinnacle and ultimate challenge
for even the best endowed violinists played on saxophones! Is
it a joke? Not a bit of it. This is serious, honest music-making
that has you sitting flabbergasted. I would think that even
a sober Charlie Parker would have stumbled before reaching the
finishing tape – but not Raaf Hekkema.
Of course he hasn’t
been able to play the music exactly as written. It had to be
arranged, adapted, sometimes transposed to be within the range
of the instruments, but that is not important. What counts is
the result and it is – fabulous! “When does he breathe?” is
a recurring question, but that is actually a wind musician’s
feature: circular breathing. What is so impressive is his constantly
beautiful tone and the smooth delivery. The evenness of the
sound is also impressive, as is his fingering method in the
fastest passages. The longest of the caprices, No. 4, is actually
a sample of different techniques. The double-stops that are
frequently found in Paganini’s original are executed by playing
one “string” on the saxophone while singing the other “string”.
This also forces him to transpose to keys that are within his
voice range. He even manages to transfer the violinist’s plucked
strings to the saxophone. The alto saxophone is the most commonly
used instrument (14 out of 24 tracks) but the change of instruments
also contributes to the variety. I played No. 24, the one with
the famous tune that everybody has written variations on, to
a music listening group and they were really taken aback. Is
this some kind of recording trick, somebody asked. It is sometimes
hard to believe that it isn’t.
Browsing through
the notes I made while listening to the disc during a train
journey to Stockholm, I find very little variation of vocabulary:
beautiful, impressive, stunning and a fair sprinkling of exclamation
marks. With excellent sound, splendid notes on the creative
process and on the individual caprices by Raaf Hekkema himself
and the longest playing time I have so far encountered on a
CD, this is a high quality product. I can’t believe that anyone
will be disappointed when hearing this – unless jealousy is
a hampering factor.
We are not even
halfway through the year 2006 but I am already convinced that
this is going to be one of my Recordings of the Year in
December.
Göran Forsling
BUY NOW
Crotchet
Raaf Hekkema (alto saxophone;
soprano saxophone)
