Transcend Fukio Ensemble

• Marc Mellits (b. 1966): Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet):
• 1Mellits: Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet): I. —01:37
• 2Mellits: Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet): II. —01:09
• 3Mellits: Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet): III. —01:06
• 4Mellits: Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet): IV. —01:24
• 5Mellits: Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet): V. —04:20
• 6Mellits: Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet): VI. —01:35
• 7Mellits: Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet): VII. —01:55
• 8Mellits: Tapas (Arr. M. Mellits & D. Espinoza for Saxophone Quartet): VIII. —02:11
• Caroline Shaw (b. 1982): Entr'acte for String Quartet (Arr. Fukio Ensemble for Saxophone Quartet):
• 9Shaw: Entr'acte for String Quartet (Arr. Fukio Ensemble for Saxophone Quartet)12:43
• Georg Friedrich Haas (b. 1953): Saxophone Quartet (2014):
• 10Haas: Saxophone Quartet (2014)10:30
• William Albright (1891 - 1971): Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet:
• 11Albright: Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet: Prelude "Index"01:58
• 12Albright: Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet: No. 1, A Real Nice Number03:11
• 13Albright: Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet: No. 2, Pypes04:17
• 14Albright: Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet: No. 3, The Fives for Steve03:24
• 15Albright: Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet: No. 4, Phantom Galop04:51
• 16Albright: Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet: No. 5, Harmonium "Heiliger Dankgesang"05:18
• 17Albright: Fantasy Etudes for Saxophone Quartet: No. 6, They Only Come out at Night02:48
• Total Runtime01:04:17

Info for Transcend

“With Transcend, the Fukio Quartet illustrates the experience and feeling of the global crisis that has strongly influenced their work over many months: The Corona Pandemic. Between cancelled concerts and an uncertainty if and when it will be possible for them to make music live again, this album was created. Within a transcendent time that was accompanied by open questions and vagueness. The state of limbo that in a way defines any crisis - the mood in which the next decision, the next turn, is not completely clear - represents a very essential core of the quartet's work. Through the sound of the saxophone, they are able to transmit emotions that they cannot communicate in any other way. In the process, every little dissonance, every inner discord, every crisis is a significant part of what resonates with the recipients. It's fukio.” (Lena Rocholl)

Fukio Quartet:
Joaquín Sáez Belmonte, soprano saxophone
Xavier Larsson Paez, alto saxophone
José Manuel Bañuls Marcos, tenor saxophone
Xabier Casal Ares, baritone saxophone

Fukio Quartet
The award-winning Fukio Saxophone Quartet has been exploring the chamber music literature for saxophone intensively since 2007 and has performed at renowned concert venues in Spain, including Fundación Juan March, Auditorio Nacional and El Primer Auditorio Madrid, England and Germany. The ensemble is also a guest at international festivals such as the Impuls Academy in Austria, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in England, Encontre Internacional de Compositors on Mallorca, the Andernacher Musiktage at Schloss Burg Namedy, the Romanischer Sommer in Cologne, the Altenberger Kultursommer, Mosel-Musikfestival or the Young Euro Classics in Berlin.

The Fukio Saxophone Quartet has won prizes at the Concurso Permanente de Juventudes Musicales España, La Porta Clàssica Barcelona and the Yamaha International Chamber Music Competition in Madrid. It was awarded the Gold Medal of the UGDA Competition in Luxembourg and the 1st Prize of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition of the German Music Academies, the COOP Music Awards in Milan and the Karlsruhe Competition for the Interpretation of New Music. Furthermore, the Fukio Saxophone Quartet received a concert scholarship from the Werner Richard - Dr. Carl Dörken Foundation. In 2017, the ensemble won first prize at the 20th Concours International de Musique de Chambre in Illzach. This was followed in 2019 by a Gold Medal in the Chamber Music category at the First Vienna International Music Competi- tion in Vienna.

In 2015, "Taste the Best" - the sponsorship initiative of the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, the Verein der Freunde und Förderer der Hochschule and the WDR - enabled the Fukio Saxophone Quartet to release its debut CD on the ARS label, which received rave reviews from the specialist press. The ensemble has been heard on Deutschlandfunk, WDR, Resonance Fm, RNEe, La2, Radio Catalunya and RTVE. The commissioning of compositions and the teaching of his musical skills are two essential aspects of the ensemble's activities. Thus, the Fukio Saxophone Quartet has already given several workshops and master classes, e.g. at the University of East Anglia and at the Mallorca Saxophone Festival.

During its studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, the Fukio Saxophone Quartet specialised in New Music in the class of Prof. David Smeyers. Furthermore, the ensemble studied with Prof. László Hadady at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris as part of the Erasmus programme.

This album contains no booklet.