"Walzer" from Serenade Op. 48 for Saxophone Quartet by Diego Marani Saxophone Quartet - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.750630

Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C Major was written with an ear towards one of his idols, a certain 18th century composer by the name of Mozart. The title and structure of the piece are taken from the serenades of the latter, though this is certainly Tchaikovsky's own particularly 19th century rendering of these older ideas. That it is a masterful work, is demonstrated by the fact that it still remains among the most performed and appreciated by the public alongside the serenades by Antonín Dvořák and Josef Suk. The second movement is a gracious waltz that "updates" the requisite dance movement (which in Mozart's time would have been a stately minuet) to a more contemporary dance form. In any case, the waltz is almost deceptively complex. The harmonic shifts are numerous and often sudden and always deftly crafted. The texture is somewhat of a departure from the previous movement in that there is a discernible lightness of touch in the waltz. This arrangement for sax quartet (Bb Soprano, Eb Alto, Bb Tenor, Eb Baritone) reflects faithfully the original and is suitable for classroom, repertoire and recital.