Flotilla
Flotilla
Reviews for the ‘Flotilla’ CD recording
All saxophones and keyboards? Hard work? The chamber ensemble Flotilla banishes any such anxiety. There's 18th-century repertoire - an arrangement of a trio sonata by Bach's contemporary Zelenka - to the present, with several premiere recordings. Liz Johnson's brief O Vos, Paul Evernden's meditative Three Songs for Sajmiste, Edward McGuire's Remembrance and William Sweeney's Scottish-folk inspired Cha b'ann grad ... explore ideas of elegy. Robert Myers's Flotilla From the Villa hints at fiesta and jazz. Elliott Carter's early Canonic Suite (1945) nods at baroque formality. This CD sparkles with energy and the playing is terrific.
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer
‘Razor-sharp ensemble, immaculate voicing, and imaginative programming: Flotilla is a group to look out for.'
Barry Millington, Evening Standard
‘It’s a terrific recording and I highly recommend it.’
Susan Fancher, Saxophone Journal
This is the debut CD by Flotilla, a new ensemble formed by Kyle Horch to explore chamber music for unconventional saxophone and keyboard instrumentation. The flexibility of the hand-picked performers has produced a highly versatile group with a great variety of instrumental line-ups. The interesting programme of largely unfamiliar repertoire spans three centuries but is united by common themes of empathy, equality, and remembrance.
This is ensemble playing at its best and the Flotilla is in perfect formation. The group is well matched in sound and approach, achieving a faultless blend with great tone and balance. Check out Horch’s own arrangement of the Zelenka Trio Sonata for agility and style, with nimble, perfectly matched solo sopranos, a delicate bouncy baritone in the cello role and sensitive support from the keyboard.
The music is effective on both cerebral and emotional levels. Here there are many moods and musics: uplifting to heartbreaking, lyrical to fragmented. Several of the works share a canonic element – whether the formal construction of the three movement Canonic Suite (Elliott Carter), the gradually building layered texture of Liz Johnson’s O Vos, or in William Sweeney’s Cha b’ann grad… with its fractional echo reminiscent of Gaelic psalm singing.
There are four premiere recordings, including Paul Evernden’s Three Songs for Sajmiste, commissioned for this CD. With the same instrumentation as the Zelenka, the mood is the polar opposite; where the earlier work is exuberant, occasionally poignant, this is pensive, disturbed, and tragic. Both this and the following work, Edward McGuire’s Remembrance, stand as a memorial in music, the former a monument to victims of a war atrocity, the latter a fond reminiscence. While often looking back, the music also seems to look ahead to the future, most apparently in the final track, Robert Myers’ Flotilla from the Villa.
Having listened to the recording without reference to the liner notes, it was surprising to discover just how much of the underlying meaning was evident from the music and its interpretation alone. That is the mark of a great performance, and on that basis I couldn’t recommend Flotilla more highly. Order this CD now and prepare to embark on a musical voyage of discovery.
Alison Owen-Morley, Clarinet and Saxophone
Flotilla is a unique and talented group of musicians, which are considered to be four of the top saxophone players on the British music scene. They play a wide variety of works that combine all sorts of varied groupings and arrangements for soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, with keyboard continuo. Kyle Horch, Naomi Sullivan, Andy Tweed and Alistair Parnell all have extensive backgrounds in their chosen instrument, including graduate studies and/or their own previous recording endeavours.
There are seven very contrasting works on this CD that impose diverging demands, both technically and emotionally, on all the players involved. The pieces that reached out and caught my attention in particular are as follows. The Canonic Suite by Elliott Carter, written in 1945 for four alto saxophones, surprised me by its freshness and pure tonality. It is a work that definitely combines fun with discipline, and Flotilla demonstrate here that they are a tight ensemble that can display the humour within music that demands split-second accuracy. The Trio Sonata No. 1 in F major by the Czech Baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka, transcribed here by Kyle Horch for two soprano saxophones, baritone saxophone, and synthesizer (replicating a harpsichord) is faithfully reproduced. The tone of the instruments is so clean and crisp, that if you didn't know any better, you would think you are listening to two clarinets, a bassoon, and a real harpsichord. The baroque style is also very well reproduced. At the other end of the musical spectrum is a more recent work by William Sweeney titled Cha b'ann grad.... A very haunting piece of music with rich overlapping harmonies supplied by three soprano saxophones drifting over a dark drone on the synthesizer. It will make your mind wander to other times and places. The remaining pieces in this collection are as varied as they are interesting, and are all played with the same devotion and beauty of sound that defines Flotilla.
If you play the saxophone yourself or love the sound of that evocative instrument, this collection easily demonstrates that jazz is not the only genre where this instrument belongs. The Zelenka piece alone is ample evidence that the saxophone is as versatile an instrument as any, especially in the hands of this fine ensemble.
Jean-Yves Duperron, classicalmusicsentinel.com
“Flotilla is an exceptional recording, demonstrating the beautiful musicianship and versatility of every musician. The literature is very interesting and the recording opens further works of chamber music involving the saxophone. Horch, Sullivan, Tweed, Parnell, and Watson should be applauded for their attention to detail and for their high degree of musicianship. The pure and well-blended tones of their saxophones should be an inspiration to us all. The CD Flotilla should be in the library of all saxophonists.”
Stephen Fischer, The Saxophone Symposium (Journal of the North American Saxophone Alliance)
Concert reviews
“ A highlight of this September was without doubt attending two concerts by Flotilla, a saxophone ensemble comprising four of the UK’s leading and most experience saxophonists: Kyle Horch, Naomi Sullivan, Andrew Tweed, and Alistair Parnell. The group describes itself as a ‘consort of saxophones’ rather than a saxophone quartet. In line with the description, what you see when Flotilla is on stage is not four but eight saxophones; a fully functioning ensemble ready to take on any piece in any formation. Alistair Parnell plays synthesizer and piano in two pieces. …The transcription of Victoria’s O Magnum Mysterium, a motet composed in 1572, was enhanced by the resonance of the church acoustic, and the expressive sound and clear articulation of the four saxophones really suited the character of the music…. The centrepiece of the performances was no doubt the Zelenka Trio Sonata n.1. Zelenka wrote six trios sonatas for two oboes, bassoon, and continuo which were rediscovered in the mid-20th century and the first is transcribed here by Kyle Horch for two soprano saxes, baritone saxophone, and synthesizer acting as harpsichord. The work is truly virtuosic with the two soprano saxes taking on challenging passages in the quicker movements and longer sustained lines requiring great control and expression between the players… The two soprano saxes really convince the listener and again, the unity in the ensemble really lifts this piece from being simply a transcription to giving the ensemble real ownership of this piece and this style… [Remarking on the London premiere of Paul Evernden Three Songs for Sajmište]: As a listener I felt able to engage with this piece intensely but also objectively… a most descriptive, powerful, and beautiful piece. …Flotilla clearly understand what they are trying to say as a group and this is reflected in the cohesive nature of their programming. The ensemble generally seems to choose new music to play that itself reflects on the past. They describe their repertoire as poetic, a ‘meditation on melody with themes of reflection, echo, and memory at its centre.’ One of the things that comes across most when listening to this ensemble is the clarity with which they express together the most imaginative and thoughtful programmes, in a manner so relaxed that it could almost be a collective improvisation…. Their programming is contemporary, imaginative, approachable, and accessible. In these two concerts their programming reflects their artistic aims and their approach to contemporary music: thoughtful but direct, bringing it down to earth whilst remaining exciting and original in their programming and projection.” Christopher Goodman, Clarinet and Saxophone