2025
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Saxophone Concerto
Adolphus Hailstork
“Certainly this is a virtuosic piece, designed to test the limits of the soloist for whom it was written, Tim McAllister, who showed his technical chops and his expressive musicianship with a piece that had his instrument now noodling thoughtfully, now dashing in crazy, frenetic runs up and down the scale…”
“It was Higdon’s concerto that offered the most sublime musical moments on the program…her saxophone concerto is an extremely lyrical piece whose ideas are clear and free of musical meandering…The work was played with warmth and agility by saxophonist Timothy McAllister…In the realm of contemporary music, finding a jewel amid the programmed mix is a rare music moment. And this concert delivered it with Higdon’s concerto.”
“Timothy McAllister played a noir-ish tenor sax solo with languorous sensuality”
“…energetic and captivating…McAllister danced Hailstork’s exuberant folk-inspired rhythms and motifs into existence, with the orchestra keeping pace through every virtuosic tutti section.”
“this array of talented composers born between 1953 (Marianne Ploger) and 1996 (Zoe Cutler), all rising to the occasion in different but satisfying ways. I don’t imagine I will encounter a saxophone recital exhibiting as much imaginative fun for a long time. The recorded sound is exemplary.”
“his fingers looked like a troupe of spiders racing over his saxophone, top to bottom, all at once, searching for perfect fingerings to play explosive music with expressive purity of tone…taut, precise, and (dare I say?) sexy performance of Adams’s challenging asymmetries…”
“REVIEW: Stephen Mulligan returns to the ASO for a saxophone-driven program”
“The evening’s linchpin was its second piece, “Adagio (For Wanda Lee Smith)”…Timothy McAllister was comfortable standing with one foot in each of the normally disparate worlds of classical refinement and hard bop intimacy. “Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith)” flat out works thanks to a consistently...