Saxophone Concerto (Larsson)

The Saxophone Concerto, Op. 14, is a three-movement concertante composition for alto saxophone and string orchestra written in 1934 by the Swedish composer Lars-Erik Larsson. The piece premiered on 27 November 1934 in Norrköping, Sweden, with conducting the Norrköping Orchestral Association. The soloist was the German-born American virtuoso Sigurd Raschèr, its dedicatee, whom Larsson had consulted during the compositional process; as such, the concerto incorporated several Raschèr's pioneering techniques—"highly personal tricks and devices". Because the Saxophone Concerto proved too difficult for most soloists (and was therefore oft-neglected), Larsson "simplified" it in the early 1980s to make it more accessible.

Structure The Saxophone Concerto is in three movements. They are as follows:

Instrumentation The Saxophone Concerto is scored the following instruments:

Soloist: Alto saxophone (in E) Strings: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses

published the piece in 1953.

Recordings The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the Saxophone Concerto: ConductorOrchestraSoloistTimeRecording venueLabelNew Stockholm Chamber Orchestra198219:19Concert Hall, Royal Swedish Academy of MusicBISSwedish Radio Symphony Orchestra198319:13Berwald HallOstrobothnian Chamber Orchestra199120:43Snellman Hall, KokkolaArte NovaBBC Philharmonic200721:42Studio 7, New Broadcasting HouseChandos

Notes, references, and sources