Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone by Heitor Villa-Lobos

Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone by Heitor Villa-Lobos
I. Animé - (0:35)
II. Lent - (5:25)
III. Très animé - (8:08)
Bob Eason - Soprano Saxophone
David Jang - Conductor
This performance was in the original key of F, instead of the published version in E-flat.

[@jasonkushmusic]

Wonderful, Bob! (AS ALWAYS!) What a pleasure to hear you on this.

[@BobEasonSaxophone]

Thanks, Jason! I hope all is well :)

[@SusanFancher]

Beautiful playing!

[@BobEasonSaxophone]

Thanks so much, Dr. Fancher!

[@alonsotoro7904]

That was the piece of my audition before the great teacher Eugene Rousseau at the University of Indiana, I know it well and I can say that it is an excellent, unquestionable version!

[@BobEasonSaxophone]

Thanks very much!

[@LimaCastor]

00:35 (05:11) Animé 05:26 (08:08) Lent 08:08 (10:54) Très animé

[@mattjennings6533]

Great performance! Though a jazz player first, I'm just starting to scratch the tip of the iceberg of "classical" saxophone music, and this piece is striking. Great sensitivity from all of the musicians involved.

[@BobEasonSaxophone]

Thanks, Matt!

[@heaneymusic]

Hi Bob, wonderful performance of the rarely-heard original key! What resource did you use to obtain parts in this key?

[@rloomis3]

I second the question!

[@harimaheswaran1116]

Hello, I think that your playing is amazing. I was wondering what your current setup is and how to go about achieving a warm tone. Thanks for the performance

[@BobEasonSaxophone]

Hari, thank you for your kind words! I think working achieving a consistent mouthpiece pitch is a great exercise to help develop a warm tone. I aim for a C as my default pitch. In this video, my mouthpiece is a Selmer Concept, strength 4 Légère signature series, and a Rico "H" ligature. Currently I play on the Lyric mouthpiece by SaxQuest, a Silverstein Estro ligature, and strength 4 Légère signature series.

[@Al-vl4su]

Nice to hear this too, Bob. Gotta ask, is this the legere too? This certainly sounds different in this key, huh? Do you have any info as to why it was transposed? The range is certainly easier in the published key, and the tuning as well, but its great to hear this, I've always been curious.

[@BobEasonSaxophone]

Yep, this is on the 3.5 signature series. It was a fun project! This is the original key, and the primary reason it was transposed down a tone, was so it wouldn't contain a "high g". The thought at the time was that more saxophonists might program the piece if the range was a bit more acceptable.