Customer Reviews

Moving Along with Harvey Pittel, Saxophone

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Pittel's attempt to create a "benchmark" classical saxophone record is laudable. The pieces on the album are standards: Creston's Sonata, Ibert's Camera, Maurice's Tableaux, etc. The recording of this album was certainly a large undertaking, but I find several fatal flaws:

-As previously noted, Pittel's intonation is severely off in several, if not all, of the selections.

-Articulation, articulation, articulation. Where is it? Pittel's tongue is extremely heavy, and renders most of the pieces fine for background music, but not critical listening.

-Stylistic interpretation. Contrary to a previous reviewer, I find his "interpretation" of Tableaux to be wrong. To slow down in the technical passages, speed up during the slower sections, and generally play rhythms incorrectly is not the mark of a good saxophonist, let alone musician.

-This album is fine for anyone who wants to hear a mediocre saxophonist. I strongly recommend, however, Pekka Savijoki's recording of Tableaux, also available on Amazon.com. Savijoki's recording is far more accurate than Pittel's.

I have to also come to Harvey's defense. I dont know what most of you are hearing, but the pieces done by pittel are amazing. Most saxophone recordings are done by people who are just trying to play fast, there is no emotion or dynamic. However, Harvey does a very good job. He plays hem at a solid tempo and has amazing dynamic contrast. This is an excellent cd.

Sounds great and is played by one of the best known classical alto sax players.

This album was quite good, and shame on all you people who disltked Pittels playing. Pittel is the greatist classical saxaphonist alive right now. Im only a 14 year old kid, been to three of his performances and probubly know alot more bout Pittels music then alota ppl. So give him a break as that one guy said, and please look beyond bout what hes playing and look into the soul of the tracks on this album. I mean its the soul that counts in music, and in the music industry. Now shove that in your pipe and smoke it fools.

This is awful. Listen to Euguene Rousseau instead!

this cd, i think, should be used as nothing more than a source of reference recordings for aspiring saxophonists and saxophonists preparing for performances of the pieces contained herewithin. the creston is stylistically pleasing, though nothing truly outstanding. the dahl is plagued with intonation problems (especially the climax of the 2nd movement passacaglia in the altissimo register) and musical lines that don't go anywhere at all. after performing the piece over 70 times (as claimed in the liner notes) and studying it with the composer, one would expect much more from this performance. a substantially better recording of the solo line (not the accompaniment) can be found on the abilene christian university symphonic band's 1998 tmea performance on mark custom recordings (eric wilson, soloist). the vocalise suffers from similar problems of pitch. the best recording on this cd, by far, is maurice's tableaux de provence which is very stylistic and accurate, though not very musical. the ibert is appallingly lackluster, though equally shocking in its precision. the albinoni follows in the steps of the tableaux in providing an excellent recording to emulate. all but the maurice and albinoni are to be used only as templates- recordings that give the listener/aspiring performer an idea of what the piece is structured like, presenting an opportunity to form ideas and musical moments of his or her own discretion.

Harvey Pittell self-proclaims himself as the 'essential' saxophonist. However, he has a terrible sense of pitch, strange interpretation of this very epic literature for saxophone, over-exaggerated articulations, and his altissimo is very shaky. These wonderful pieces i felt were very disgraced in this recording. It is a pity that no one has Donald Sinta's rendtion of the Dahl Concerto, it surpasses John Harle and this one by a long shot. For Paul Creston, i would recommend Marcel Mule, Eugene Rousseau, or Donald Sinta. For the Ibert, i would recommened Marcel Mule, Eugene Rousseau, John-Edward Kelly, John Harle. And of course, the essential recorindg of the Tableux de Provence, Marcel Mule. Its true some of these recordings are hard to find, but don't resort to less than average performances such as these.

I hate to smack-talk, but i can't say i'm terribly impressed with these recordings. I think Pittel's playing (at least as I hear it on the cd) would be a lot more effective if he worked on intonation...like, a lot. It makes me cringe. also, articulation is quite offensive at times. Not very graceful.

For the Creston Sonata, I recommend recordings of Donald Sinta, Arno Borkamp, and Eugene Rousseau.
Ibert: Arno Bornkamp did a swell rendition of this on the album "A Saxophone in Paris".
For the Dahl Concerto, check out Joseph Lullof.
Maurice's Tableaux: Look for Claude DeLangle's album entitled "A la Francaise"
Vocalise: Try to find recordings by Joseph Lullof, Arno Bornkamp, and also look for good vocal recordings.


I feel that Harvey Pittel is indeed very overated in the classical saxophone world in the same way Kenny G is in the "jazz" saxophone world...well maybe that's not such a great parallel. Hopefully you get what I'm saying, though.
And for those of you who are defending Pittel's playing...be truthful please. And for that person who said he's the greatest classical saxophone player alive, you obviously haven't heard much good classical saxophone playing, or there's something wrong with your ears (no offense).
I really wonder how Mr. Pittel was able to get as far as he did....

do i even need to go on. that is the WORST rendition of the creston i have ever heard. i have heard undergraduates play it infinitely better. and they can actually play it at the tempo intended by creston. time is only beiginning of things i could stab at this album about.

I basically agree with nearly everyone else.

His tempo's terrible, his intonation's horrible, and his articulation is pathetic. Following his concept of tempo in the Creston is almost as hard as playing the Dahl - and by that I mean the Dahl as it's meant to be played. And with the Dahl... in his edited version he babbles incessantly about using a sopranino for the ossia passages. It's a shame he didn't follow his own advice.