This Sydney based saxophone quartet has had great success in repertoire running from Bach to the Weimar period. In fact, their last release (Ballads of the Pleasant Life on ABC) saw them providing appropriate accompaniment for the dependable baritone Peter Coleman-Wright in songs by Kurt Weill, Eisler and even early Schoenberg. Tango de Saxos sees them in repertoire from South America with particular emphasis on the late tango meister Astor Piazzolla.

Nexas

At the height of his popularity in the 80s and 90s, Piazzolla’s compositions were played by pianists, guitarists and string quartets to great advantage. So, if it can work for a string quartet, why not a saxophone one? The smoothness in the ensemble playing is very fine indeed. And with the sonorities and wide variety of tone colours offered by this wind ensemble, it becomes apparent that Piazzolla is not too far removed from the sound world of Weill and others – that is, once the underlying German oom pah pah effects are removed. And of course, Weill himself was familiar with the tango (the...