Percussionist Pierre Favre’s previous release on Intakt was his tumultuous duet with Irène Schweitzer, Ulrichsberg (Intakt CD 084); it’s hard to imagine a greater contrast to his new disc, the elegant, composerly Saxophones. The disc’s mood and texture is close to the folksong-goes-to-church aesthetic of the ECM catalog, and in the spirit of ECM there’s even a sheaf of glum, monochrome session photos in the centre of the CD booklet. The saxophones become a wordless choir, mouthing slow, tender songs; even when the music touches on dance rhythms, it remains stately – on “Lea,” for instance, a tango is stretched out into a grave chorale. The album’s longer tracks are mostly through-composed, but there are also brief interludes with a greater improvisational component: three carefully constructed solo percussion pieces; a duet between Favre and tuba wizard Michel Godard called “Options”; and “Hippopotamus,” a muttering baritone/tuba/drums episode. Saxophones is a thoroughly lovely album, serene, lucid and gracious; I just wish it were a little more pulse-quickening.

Nate Dorward

Cadence, January 2005