Saxophone Concerto ft. Branford Marsalis
Bass Drum Concerto ft. Joby Burgess

In his new Saxophone Concerto, Gabriel Prokofiev explores a side of classical music usually seen as forbidden by modern contemporary composers: melody. This aspect was incorporated at the request of the soloist, Branford Marsalis, allowing Prokofiev to revisit characteristics of the classical tradition not usually heard in contemporary music, giving the saxophone an open canvas.

Prokofiev’s Bass Drum Concerto shows the versatility of the instrument, despite only being used in a very basic fashion in classical music as a whole. Prokofiev experiments with how the bass drum is struck, where it is struck, and what it is struck with throughout the piece, producing a variety of sounds, colours and textures.

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Recorded in Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Hall, Yekaterinburg, Russia on 22 & 23 August (Saxophone Concerto) and 25 August 2018 (Bass Drum Concerto)