Theodore Kerkezos – Ballades for Saxophone & Orchestra

Contents

1. Henri Tomasi: Ballade: Andantino – Gigue – Blues
2. Frank Martin: Ballade for Saxophone and Orchestra
3. Maurice Ravel: Piece en forme de habanera (arr. A. Hoerree): Pièce en forme de Habanera
4. Astor Piazzolla: Tango Suite (arr. T. Kerkezos): Preludio
5. Astor Piazzolla: Tango Suite (arr. T. Kerkezos): Fuga
6. Astor Piazzolla: Tango Suite (arr. T. Kerkezos): Misterio
7. Astor Piazzolla: Tango Suite (arr. T. Kerkezos): Fugato
8. Astor Piazzolla: Tango Suite (arr. T. Kerkezos): Oblivión
9. Astor Piazzolla: Tango Suite (arr. T. Kerkezos): Adios Nonino
10. Astor Piazzolla: Tango Suite (arr. T. Kerkezos): Libertango
11. Dimitris Dragatakis: Ballade for Saxophone and Strings
12. Pedro Iturralde: Czardas (arr. J. Iturralde): Czárdás

Of Corsican descent, Henri Tomasi was born in 1901 inMarseilles, where he studied before entering the Paris Conservatoire. There hewas a composition pupil of Paul Vidal, winning the Prix de Rome in 1927. Healso studied with D’Indy. He established himself as a conductor and as acomposer for the theatre, with a series of concertos that displayed his veryconsiderable powers of orchestration. He wrote his Ballade for altosaxophone and orchestra in 1938 for hisfriend Marcel Mule, one of the leading saxophonists in France. In form andinspiration the work follows the tradition of the fourteenth-century ballade ofthe medieval troubadours, with the solo saxophone taking the r??le of the clown.The work is based on a poem by Suzanne Malard, Tomasi’s wife: