BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
‘Between Worlds’
Music for saxophone and strings
Nick Russoniello and the Acacia Quartet
Nicholas Russoniello’s debut album is certainly not a self-absorbed one. The young saxophonist had long planned to combine his own instrument with strings, and on his new release joined up with the Acacia Quartet to create a remarkable recording.
Despite this being his own first album, the balance is shared fairly equally between his solo playing and the ensemble work. This is evident in the well balanced opening track from Chick Corea’s ‘Children’s Songs Suite’ arranged by Ian Stewart. Both Nick and the quartet come together for the bright and magical ‘No. 7 Andante’. The work really highlights the strings, indicative of his interest in combining the two sounds rather than releasing a simple showcase of his own work.
In Corea’s tense ‘No. 6 Andante’, we hear mystery from the strings while Nick plays decisively over the top, using subtle vibrato and expressive bends in pitch. ‘No. 19 Lento’ offers calming relief, emphasised by Nick’s adoption of a warmer, French horn-like tone – with impossibly clear high notes. ‘No. 18 Allegro’ follows with primitive stabbing strings, which feature more prominently as a textural effect than the saxophone itself – though this quickly changes as Nick lets go at a fierce dynamic.
‘The New South’ reveals Nick’s strong ability to control his tone and dynamics on demand. An original work by Nick, there are so many layers to this solo alto piece. An adorable melody is brought out despite the jumbling lower notes of the compound melody, proving Nick was not afraid to set himself a technical challenge.
Elena Kats-Chernin follows with ‘Butterflying’, arranged by Nick. The fluttery call and response and stunning harmonies between horn and string were over all too soon. ‘Between Worlds’ by Jeremy Rose, also a saxophonist, is well suited to the instrument – though Nick’s articulation wasn’t always well matched with the strings when playing in unison. But with notes this fast, it wasn’t a particularly noticeable problem.
Nick’s second original ‘Dawn Searching’ was almost like a meditation, and came to a thoughtfully quiet close before Barry Cockcroft’s comical ‘Rock Me!’ took over. Cool and effortless, Nick shows extended techniques to evoke sounds of distortion, club-like scenes, overtones, and pulsating dynamics. It’s a shock to the system when Nick’s arrangement of Kats-Chernin’s ‘Russian Rag’ comes next, but it provides a satisfyingly cheeky end to the album. As far as debuts go, this one is pretty remarkable.
