This new release from MDG presents chamber works by 20th-century composers; Dmitri Shostakovitch, Béla Bartók, Max Butting, Hanns Eisler, Alexander Mosolov and Hans Gál. In masterful arrangements for saxophone quartet, these works are performed here by the sonic.art Saxophone Quartet.

The title of Max Butting's suite is Heitere Musik ("Cheerful Music"), and this pioneering piece from the early days of radio lives up to its name. With lively dance rhythms, juxtaposed by strict counterpoint, it comes across as surprisingly fresh in the arrangement by baritone saxophonist Annegret Tully. As a result of poor transmission quality on the radio at the time of the pieces composition, the original recording for strings loses much of the subtle writing. With today's recording technology, and this fine arrangement for saxophone quartet, even the finest nuances can be experienced!

Steffen Schleiermacher contributes three arrangements to this highly interesting collection: there is the Suite that the versatile Hanns Eisler put together from various film scores. Three Little Piano Pieces by Alexander Mosolov cast an extremely illuminating light on the short but very fruitful period between the October Revolution and Stalinist terror, and then Béla Bartók's wonderful collection of Romanian Christmas Carols, which in their dance-like exuberance leave any idea of a traditionally contemplative Christmas far behind.

Annegret Tully has arranged Hans Gál's string quartet for her ensemble, which is harmonically highly romantic to late romantic, and Christoph Enzel's effective arrangement of Dmitri Shostakovich's Jazz Suite no.1. Today, the three dance pieces would rather be classified as vaudeville than jazz.