Métier Announces “Anthology”: Contemporary Music for Saxophone

The latest addition to the Métier Records roster is the virtuoso saxophonist Anthony Brown, 
whose debut commercial recording, ‘Anthology’ will be released in the first quarter of 2023. The album includes seven world première recordings of brand new commissioned works for the saxophone. Each work has its own unique sound world, offering different, exciting new duo and solo works. The performers and composers on this disc represent some of the major influences that have impacted Anthony’s career to date, including teachers, colleagues and friends.

These virtuosic works explore the range and characters that the 4 main saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone) have to offer. The sound world of the contemporary saxophone is explored in great depth, with influences ranging from jazz, film, poetry, electronic music, and theatre. Each work was commissioned especially for this project and has taken 5 years to complete. The disc was recorded between Nov 2021-Jan 2022 at Halle St. Michael’s, Ancoats, by Joe Riser.

The artist provides the following extra detail:

Delicate sonorities of two soprano saxophones intertwine in a dance-like Sonata for Two Saxophones by Julian Arguelles. The title track of the album, Anthology by Andy Scott, is a homage to Charlie Parker. It contains virtuosic angular phrases of bebop language interspersed with quarter tones, and explores the extended range of the saxophone. Graham Ross, Director of Clare College Cambridge, has produced an intimate work for alto saxophone and piano based on Maya Angelou’s poem, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. The Caged Bird here, is used as a metaphor for the struggle and fight against the racism she was subjected to as a young woman. Larry Goves makes use of electronics and multiphonics on two alto saxophones to evoke the brutish images and text of Lars von Trier’s Antichrist in The Two From Rastibon Could Start A Hailstorm. Anthony was involved in Steve Jackson’s III, during the composition process, recording the manipulated samples that provide the electronic backdrop to this rocky work for alto saxophone and electric guitar. Gary Carpenter’s work, Everything is Connected for tenor saxophone and double bass, uses playful time signature changes combined with floating melodies and walking bass lines. Finally, Meriel Price has composed a humorous work for saxophone which asks the performer and audience to consider, Where The Mind Goes.

Anthony Brown

Described by The Times on his debut Purcell Room performance as an ‘outstanding young saxophonist’, multi-award winning, Manchester based saxophonist Anthony Brown graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with an International Artist Diploma in chamber music and a First Class Honours degree, attaining full marks in his final recital. He has won awards from The Worshipful Company of Musicians, the Tillett Trust, Park Lane Group, Making Music and the Hattori Foundation, as well as first prize in the Haverhill Sinfonia Soloist Competition and the Bromsgrove International Young Musicians’ Platform.

Anthony has performed extensively throughout the UK, including solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre. He has performed with orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Hallé, Opera North, Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He features on a CD with the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, and has performed live and recorded broadcasts as a soloist at the BBC Proms and also with Beats and Pieces Big Band on BBC Radio 3. Anthony is a member of the Ferio Saxophone Quartet. They have recorded two albums together, one with pianist Timothy End, and another with the Corvus Consort (Revoiced – music for saxophones and voices), two exciting projects that explore a varied range of repertoire and styles.

Album Details

• Catalogue number:  MSV 28634
• Title: ‘Anthology’
• Style:  contemporary music for saxophones
• Recording dates: November 2021 – January 2022
• Venue: Halle St Michaels, Ancoats
• Engineer: Joe Riser
• Release formats:  CD/ HD digital download /streaming
• Works:
  • Sonata for Two Saxophones (Julian Argüelles)
  • Anthology (Andy Scott)
  • Caged Bird (Graham Ross)
  • The Two from Ratisbon Could Stat a Hailstorm (Larry Goves)
  • III (Steve Jackson)
  • Everything is Connected (Gary Carpenter)
  • Where the Mind Goes (Meriel Price)
• Artists:
  • Anthony Brown (saxophones)
  • Carl Raven (saxophones)
  • Daniel Brew (electric guitar)
  • Grant Russell (double bass)
  • Louise Stevens (tickling)
  • Ben Powell (piano)