Christian Forshaw, 21st January 2007

Pity the poor guest conductor facing the NSC last Sunday: not only a unique ensemble of saxes and largely unfamiliar music, but also players with nerves frazzled by annual auditions, prospective new players in all sections and a constant background refrain of the Bolero solo (the audition memorization test) drifting through from the adjoining hall.

In these potentially fraught circumstances, the calm authority of Christian Forshaw (soloist/composer of the chart-topping Sanctuary CD and professor of saxophone at the Guildhall School of Music) was a blessing. The choir was attentive and responsive to Christian's quiet but decisive direction, resulting in rewarding work-throughs of Karl Veen's arrangement of the J.S.Bach Fugue in G minor and Nigel Wood's arrangement of Richard Payne's Concerto for Alto Saxophone, with the choir's own Cat Evison taking the solo part; this concerto is to feature on the choir's forthcoming Sax to the Max CD, and promises to be a stunner. Valuable work was also done on R.A Mould's lovely Egloga, but by the late afternoon when Nigel staggered into the rehearsal, dazed after an entire day of auditioning (though still game to sparkle on his tiny soprillo), the choir collectively had taken on a rather wild-eyed look, and the run-through of Waltzing Soprillda and Claire Tomsett's fiery arrangement of Gershwin's Cuban Overture, despite their exuberance and colour, possibly lacked some finesse.

Nevertheless, and despite looking rather pale by the close of the session, Christian swore that he'd enjoyed the day...

Visit Christian's site.

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