Andy Scott

My Mountain Top
music for tenor saxophone
Andy Scott

with special guests
Lemn Sissay - poet track 10
Peter Lawson - piano track 2-4
Lauren Scott - harp track 11

total running time 71:56
£12.98 UK sterling (p&p free)
(code) WGW-2431

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produced by Andy Scott & Tim Redpath
Recorded & Edited by Tim Redpath
over 2005/2006 at:
Royal Northern College of Music Concert Hall, Manchester and
Eglise Notre Dame, Mareuil, Charente, France

tracks on the CD

01     Coltrane Dave Heath     7:14
02     Concerto for Stan Getz - Con Fuoco Richard Rodney Bennett     8:33
03     Concerto for Stan Getz - Elegy Richard Rodney Bennett     8:56
04     Concerto for Stan Getz - Con Brio Richard Rodney Bennett     5:54
05     Passing Graham Fitkin     11:38
06     Hovaardij Matthew Wright     8:54
07     Three Pieces - 1am Peter Meechan     3:30
08     Three Pieces - Dawn Song Peter Meechan     3:20
09     Three Pieces - Elegie Peter Meechan     2:35
10     My Mountain Top Lemn Sissay/Andy Scott     8:29
11     Lullaby Paul Mitchell-Davidson     2:31

World Premiere Recordings of new music for Tenor Saxophone

The title, “My Mountain Top” succinctly encapsulates Andy Scott's own personal drive to perform to his own highly exacting standards; to say to the world ”Hey there's some terrific quality music being written for Tenor Saxophone - let's play it as often as we can” and to promote the thinking that what we need today, are players who have an intimate working knowledge with a wide range of different styles of music, and who can play in those styles with musical integrity.

This CD has been a long time in the making. Drawing on a wealth of experiences playing with the Apollo Saxophone Quartet and working closely with many of the composers who have written for that Ensemble, Andy's vision has been to create a repertoire for the Tenor Saxophone in the field of Contemporary Classical music that would counter balance that formidable oeuvre of classics that exists for the Tenor Sax in Jazz. This CD gathers together some of those talented composers who share a similar open-mindedness and versatile approach to music.

COLTRANE by DAVE HEATH
Originally written for Flute and then transcribed for Soprano Saxophone, this is the World Premiere recording of the Tenor Saxophone version. It seems rather fitting that this virtuosic piece, obviously inspired by the music of John Coltrane, should receive a performance on the Tenor Sax! Dave writes “I imagined John Coltrane improvising this on top of a misty Tibetan mountain.”
[www.daveheath.co.uk] Publishers : Camden Music.

CONCERTO FOR STAN GETZ by RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT
This work has long been acknowledged as a substantial addition to the Tenor Saxophone repertoire, and was performed by Andy on 2nd March 2006 in the composers 70th Birthday Concert , broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 from the Queen Elizabeth Hall, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by John Wilson. The recording on this CD is the World Premiere recording of the Tenor Saxophone and Piano version. In conjunction with Richard Rodney Bennett, Andy has produced notated 'solos' for the soloist in the outer movements of this piece (as an option to the written chord symbol sections). In addition, Peter Lawson has edited the reduced score to a piano accompaniment part.
[www.chesternovello.com] Publishers : Novello & Co

PASSING by GRAHAM FITKIN
Andy drew together a group of like-minded Tenor Saxophonists in 2004 to form the World Tenor Saxophone Consortium. The first composer to be commissioned by the WTSC was Graham Fitkin. 'Passing' was premiered in nine different countries on the same night, 26th April 2005.

Graham writes: “The title refers to the passing of time, the passing of life…, passing in a slow motion sort of way too.”
[www.fitkin.com] music copyright Graham Fitkin

THREE PIECES by PETER MEECHAN
1am, Dawn Song & Elegie all display an openness of sound, Pete's confidence with space, and as Andy says “their simplicity, beauty and sense of implication”.
[www.petemeechan.com] Publishers : Astute Music

HOVAARDIJ by MATTHEW WRIGHT
Matt says about Hovaardij “I was commissioned by the VNO-NCW to write a work that was influenced by a part of a sculpture by Peer Veneman, Hovaardij (Pride). Britain and the US had just invaded Iraq with a pomposity so reminiscent of the sculpture that I decided to saturate the score with musical symbols - an arrogant funk riff, the tritone (the 'devil' in music), a judgemental plainchant in ethereal harmonics and bullying fragments of the star spangled banner.” Matt added a further symbol to this recording, an omnipresent reverb reminiscent of a cathedral or a mosque, or both. Originally written for bass clarinet, the reworked Tenor Saxophone version is dedicated to Andy.
[www.myspace.com/mattwrightuk] music copyright Matthew Wright

MY MOUNTAIN TOP by LEMN SISSAY (words) and ANDY SCOTT(music)
“A sampled 1950's crackle throughout the piece signifies the tingling sensation that one might experience lying in the sun and slowly drifting asleep. Warm keyboard pads then provide a blanket for Lemn's wonderful words. The saxophone weaves its way around the voice, not being too intrusive but rather shadowing energy and shape.” Andy Scott

“My Mountain Top is possibly but not exclusively an answer to the religious texts that were forced upon me as a child into a search for something that I neither needed nor asked for. As an empty vessel I was filled with as much fear, foreboding and blame as was humanly possible. The unrelenting wrath in childhood needed no heaven and hell metaphor such as it was. But I am left believing in a universal spirit and mans inherent goodness, poisoned only by the desperate ruthlessness of religion. And here My Mountain Top is the simple place where I can say "isn't the view beautiful. I do not sully it with my presence. I am part of it". Lemn Sissay
[www.lemnsissay.com] Publishers : Astute Music

LULLABY by PAUL MITCHELL-DAVIDSON
Paul writes that, “Lullaby was originally written to celebrate the birth of Lauren and Andy's first child Stanley, and was premiered by them in 1996.“ One passage Paul has marked on the score “Getz like” and it kind of sums up what I have been talking about, because these two words conjure up a wealth of information to the knowledgeable performer about, phrasing, style, tone quality, breath control…
Publishers : Astute Music

Liner notes by Keith Robinson
Thanks to the all composers that I've worked with on this project: Dave, Graham, Matt, Paul, Pete & Richard - it has and is an honour playing your music!

Thanks to Lemn for his words and voice, and Peter & Lauren for their wonderful playing and hard work.

Thanks to Tim for the all the time spent recording & producing this CD (www.horizonmusicproduction.com).

Thanks to Gary Abbott for the inspiring images & to Keith Robinson for the liner notes.

Also thanks to Rob Buckland, Richard Ellis, Jim Muirhead, Claire Redpath, Russell Gillespie, John Barber, Dave Hassell, and my colleagues in the World Tenor Saxophone Consortium: Yasushi Arai, Antonio Cafolla, Neil Crossley, Tony Davis, Amy Dickson, Christoph Enzel, Lara James, Jenny Lyons, Steven Mauk, Federico Mondelci & Leonie Schaller.

Special Thanks: Lauren, Stanley & Ruby.
Andy Scott September 2006

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