Rob Buckland - Saxophonist

I’m in the middle of a tour with Opera North performing Jules Massenet’s beautiful opera “Werther”, which contains one of the very first orchestral Saxophone parts ever written. The piece was completed in 1879, just 33 years after the Saxophone was invented. Considering how long it must have taken to write this amazing piece of music, Massenet must have been working with a saxophone player who was still getting to grips with what this amazing new instrument was capable of, especially as the early instruments were technically less sophisticated than our modern ones. In fact you can almost hear that development through the four acts - in Act 1 the Saxophone hardly plays, simply re-enforcing cadences with the brass. In Act 2, there is more to do, with the Saxophone becoming almost an extra French Horn. However, in Act 3, the most significant and beautiful solo of the entire opera is handed to the Saxophone, and by Act 4 the instrument is fully integrated into the woodwinds. It has been a real pleasure to be able to perform such ‘early’ music (in Saxophone terms), and it really feels as though I’ve been given an insight into the heritage of our great instrument. RB