By Parker Thomas Staff writer
Internationally renowned French saxophonist Claude Delangle and his wife, internationally known pianist Odile Catelin-Delangle, will visit Susquehanna and perform in Stretansky Concert Hall on Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Delangle is considered one of the greatest contemporary saxophonists in the world, known for his enriching interpretation of classic works and collaboration with several prominent composers.
He is an invited saxophonist in the Ensemble Intercontemporain and has been featured with many prestigious orchestras around the globe.
Beyond his performances, Delangle teaches at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique of Paris, or Paris Conservatoire, which is where saxophone classes first originated. After inventing the saxophone in Paris in 1846, Belgian Adolphe Sax was the first to teach at the university. Following him, only four other professors have taught at the Paris Conservatoire, Delangle being the fourth.
Catelin-Delangle has performed with many other instrumentalists from across the world and has performed in 80 premieres. She has also worked with many composers as an interpreter and teaches interpretation along with master classes on French music at the Ecole Normale de Musique of Chile.
Before the concert, both musicians will have lunch with French majors from the level 201 and level 301 classes on campus in order to help them use their skills and host conversations in English, all the while learning about both French art and music.
The concert will contain three pieces that the pair will perform together, along with an additional piece, during which Susquehanna’s saxophone ensemble and Gail Levinsky, associate professor of music, will perform with them. The program consists of two pieces initially composed by Claude Debussy, whose pieces have become part of standard saxophone repertoire.
The second piece in the performance is Debussy’s “Rhapsodie,” a piece that was originally composed for a saxophone and orchestra but has been arranged for piano and saxophone by saxophonist Vincent David.
The other Debussy piece is “Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune,” or “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” which will be performed last in the program. Like “Rhapsodie,” this piece was not initially composed for just piano and saxophone but has been arranged that way by Catelin-Delangle.
The other two pieces in the upcoming program are relatively contemporary.
The program will open up with Marilyn Shrude’s 2005 piece, “Fantasmi,” which translates to “ghost.” The song features two alto saxophones, along with multiple saxophones in the background and is “based on a series of multiphonics or staff-pitches and microtones all at the pianissimo level,” according to Levinsky. Susquehanna’s eight-member saxophone ensemble and Levinsky will be performing along with Delangle.
Levinsky said the piece is “Shrude’s interpretation as a memory to lost, passing souls. At the time that she wrote it there were a number of well-known composers who passed away, and she had some family members pass away. It’s a wonderful, beautiful and reflective piece.”
The other contemporary piece is Aurélien Marion-Gallois’ “IV f i 18, Variations,” which was written this past year. It will be making its American premiere first at Georgia State, where Delangle and Catelin-Delangle will be stopping prior to Susquehanna, and then at Susquehanna. The piece is described as being theatrical and will be performed by the two with Catelin-Delangle playing the piano and singing soprano throughout the piece.
The two musicians were initially contacted by Levinsky, a friend of theirs, who knew Delangle through “saxophone circles” and by studying his teaching during her sabbatical in the spring of 2007. Aware that the pair was visiting the United States, Levinsky got in contact with them and asked them to come to Susquehanna. Receiving support from the department of music, the dean’s office, the modern language department and Sellmer Paris Corporation, which provides the university with saxophones and paid for the musicians’ air fares from Atlanta to Harrisburg, Delangle and Catelin-Delangle’s trip to Susquehanna was made easy.
The committee that oversees this year’s university theme—passion—was also a huge supporter of the visit. Levinksy thought it was very appropriate to bring them in this year due to theme. She said: “There is nothing more passionate than those in the art department… Many of our majors are here because they are passionate about making music, they are passionate about teaching others, they are passionate about using the arts and everything we gain from the arts in whatever field or profession they, themselves, go in. So there is nothing more important for us to support than something like this.”
