Edmund von Borck - Introduction and Capriccio, Op. 11

Composer: Edmund Konstantin Wilhelm von Borck (22 February 1906 -- 16 February 1944)
Performers: Frank Lunte (alto saxophone), Tatjana Blome (piano)
Year of recording: 2002

Introduction and Capriccio in A major, for Saxophone & Piano, Op. 11, written 1934.

In Berlin of the 1930s an attempt was undertaken to come to terms with the saxophone as a classical instrument. Broken off because of repression and war, it found a continuation only in the 1980s.

Edmund von Borck wrote in 1932, "Only now does the saxophone begin its real triumphant advance, in fact also in modern, serious opera and concert music. One only slowly dares to go near this strange instrument with its highly individual timbre...it is not difficult to recognize the importance that the use of one or more saxophones can attain in the future in serious art music."

Borck was called for military service in 1940, and he fell during the Allied invasion during the Battle of Anzio in Nettuno, Italy. He never really got to see the rise in popularity of the saxophone, but in jazz music instead of classical music as he predicted...