Bozza's Aria

This is one of my favorite pieces and one of the most beautiful ever written for the saxophone. Not everyone knows that Bozza was inspired by Bach's Organ Pastorale BWV 590. You can see the connections in the score below.

I think one should be careful not to play the Aria too slow. I like the tempo I have chosen, but I would not go any faster. There are times when I would even prefer a slightly slower tempo than on my videos.

Control at soft dynamics can be difficult. Careful wind control and tonal balance are important. One must take great care not to drift sharp when soft or when playing all the middle Ds.

I sequenced the piano part in two stages. For stage one, I entered the score into Notion for iPad, which generated a midi file. I then imported the midi file into Reaper on my desktop computer, where I fine tuned the part. I was able to shape both the tempo and dynamics exactly to my taste. The part was played by East West Pianos Steinway. Reaper generated a 24bit audio file, which I imported into Auria on my iPad. I then overdubbed the saxophone, mixed, and added some convolution reverb. There was no editing. The recordings you hear are one complete take. The only problem is that I could not decide if I liked my Larry Teal or my C* better, so I posted them both. If nothing else, you can hear a good comparison of the two mouthpieces this way.

I hope you enjoy these recordings!

Modern Larry Teal:

Selmer C*: