Anders Koppel - String Quartets • Mezzo Saxophone Quintet (2011)

The Danish composer Anders Koppel (b. 1947) has one foot firmly planted in the European classical music tradition, and the other in world music, rock and jazz. On this album the two worlds meet when the Sjælland String Quartet are joined by Koppel’s son, the jazz icon Benjamin Koppel. The composer has tailored his quintet to the distinctive mixture of the classical string quartet and the custom-built mezzo saxophone, which with this recording can be heard for the first time ever on CD.

Since the newly developed mezzo saxophone has both the slenderness of the soprano saxophone ad the depth of the alto saxophone as well as a velvety timbre, it is as if it was made to mix with the instruments of the classical string quartet. As with the clarinet in Brahms' Clarinet Quintet, Anders Koppel lets the mezzo saxophone move freely among the strings, and with its warm golden sound it can both merge with the homogenous sound-body of the strings and emerge as a sparkling soloist. However, there are soloistic challenges for all five musicians in the first movement, where rhythmic ingenuity and beautiful melodic fragments are whirled together in a exuberant alternation marked by humour, carefree lightness and momentarily dreaming sections.


The Quintet is a luscious, sexy, richly characterful piece firmly rooted in jazz idioms yet holding court in the most sophisticated arenas of classical style. The saxophone is not just a gratuitous addition but stands as an integral part of the work - Anders Koppel has created something not only sensible but laudable and repeatable and demanding of a place in the concert repertoire, an achievement already noted in our review of his saxophone concertos. Make this a priority.


...Koppel is unafraid of overt tonality, recalling Bernstein and Gershwin, particularly in the Saxophone Quintet, Benjamin's mezzo sounding clarinet-like in parts. The string quartets are more eclectic still, incorporating Tango, Klezmer and a loping jazz swing in the First, while the second is more open-ended and questing, reflecting the composer's interests in star constellations.


...First String Quartet (1997) begins with attention-getting glissando slides, motoric rhythms, a klezmer-like tango, and a pizzacato strumming cello. The lively frenetically spooky finale integrates minimalism, jazz and a fugue—exhilarating! The programmatic Quartet No. 2 (2002) is serious, heartfelt and cosmically lovely. An ethereal second movement glides from planet to planet, unified by delicate pizzacatos. The agitated finale brings us down to earth, reminding us of the “dizzying speed at which …our planet and our life move.” The mezzo saxophone in the Quintet for Mezzo Saxophone and String Quartet (2008) unites the slight sound of the soprano sax with the depth of the alto sax. There’s a jazzy sexiness in the joyous finale, as the saxophone takes center stage for the rollicking conclusion. Kudos to saxophonist Benjamin Koppel (the composer’s son) and the Sjaelland String Quartet for idiomatic and flawless performances in riveting sound. This is a magnificent disc that demonstrates how ingratiating and fresh new music can be. Don’t miss it!


I have to admit it was my guilty pleasure to listen to this and two other of Koppel's CDs (one more to be shared later) in the last few months. I have a soft spot for Koppel's beautiful saxophone writing that while stemming from long jazz tradition seems to transcend both jazz and classical spheres and inhabit a world of its own. Anders Koppel is a brother of late Thomas Koppel, whose Moonchild's Dream I shared earlier.

Track List:

String Quartet No. 1
1. I. Allegro con brio 00:03:47
2. II. Lento 00:06:55
3. III. Moderato misterioso 00:03:31
String Quartet No. 2
4. I. Larghetto 00:10:30
5. II. Allegretto, con delicatezza 00:06:57
6. III. Allegro agitato 00:05:05
Mezzo Saxophone Quintet
7. I. Allegro con brio 00:07:33
8. II. Largo, "Die Insel der Toten" (Bocklin) 00:08:45
9. III. Moderato con moto 00:06:07




Read more about Anders Koppel here.
Read more about the CD here.

3% recovery record is included.

Of related interest:
Thomas Koppel - Los Angeles Street Concerto (2006) Link
Anders Koppel - Works for Saxophone and Orchestra (2006) Link

More contemporary American and European music is available at my blog.