Larsson Saxophone Concerto

[Apolito Ghosh]

The Saxophone Concerto, Op. 14, is a three-movement concertante composition for alto saxophone and string orchestra written in 1934 by the Swedish composer Lars-Erik Larsson. The piece premiered on 27 November 1934 in Norrkping, Sweden, with Tord Benner conducting the Norrkping Orchestral Association. The soloist was the German-born American virtuoso Sigurd Raschr, its dedicatee, whom Larsson had consulted during the compositional process; as such, the concerto incorporated a number of Raschr's pioneering techniques -- "highly personal tricks and devices". Because the Saxophone Concerto proved too difficult for most soloists (and was therefore oft-neglected), Larsson "simplified" it in the early 1980s in order to make it more accessible.

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