Le Carnaval des Animaux

Who does not know Carnival of the Animals with its music bursting with joy of living, grotesque humour, virtuosity and incomparable charm. Although its composer imposed a performance ban upon his work merely a few years after he had written the piece in February 1886, it is probably one of the best-known compositions within today’s classical concert repertory. In spring 2004, I decided to venture on the task of arranging this piece – which was originally scored for two pianos, a string quartet, double bass, flute, clarinet and xylophone – for my saxophone quartet clair-obscur. With some movements everything worked out well right from the start; for others, however, there existed four of five different versions, which we tested, dismissed, altered until we finally found a perfect solution in the form of the arrangement on hand offering each musician of the quartet the opportunity to exhibit his or her talents as a soloist and, at the same time, as a member of the ensemble. Yet, this is not the only reason why this piece is one of the cornerstones of our present repertory: Innumerable performances – whether for children or in the concert hall, whether presented with the German comedian Loriot’s well-known verses to accompany it or in its classical concertante version – have shown that this arrangement of Carnival of the Animals electrifies every audience. (Christoph Enzel)

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