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). |
