Albert Regni

INFORMATION
Albert Regni
El Amor [CD]

Albert Regni, sax; Marissa Regni, Shem Guibbory, V; Ron Carbone, va; Maxine Neuman, Eugene Moye, vc
Sons of Sound 5-46 minutes

Albert Regni is the long-time sax star of the New York Philharmonic and other New York-based ensembles. His tone is very American, strong, extroverted, and adaptable, with technique second to none. This album sees him joined by several string players in a variety of pieces

I am not a fan of Astor Piazzolla's scratch-it-till-it-bleeds ad nauseam approach to the tango. This dance form is not as adaptable as the waltz, and Piazzolla is no Strauss. Some tunes hold mild interest, but the sameness of approach is consistently dull. His myriad cult followers will no doubt disagree. These five seem as good as any I have heard -- meaning not very -- and Regni's soprano sax swoons through them all, certainly as well as Ma or any of the other misguided artists that have been tempted to jump on this bandwagon.

Pierre-Max Dubois -- now here is a real composer -- contributes a short, two-movement work, Straw Fire, according to the notes a French colloquialism used to describe a short, intense burst of passion. It is an interesting work, and Regni's alto makes a nice foil to the partner violin.

The final work, Bernhard Hoffer's Suite After Baroque Styles is the most inter-esting. This five-movement suite pits the three members of a string trio -- violin, viola, and cello -- against the sax, one instrument at a time, and then concludes the last two in tutti. It is clever and idiomatic, and slightly enjoyable.

The sound on this disc is disturbing, harsh and glaring, and not at all sympathetic to the natural timber of the soprano sax, already a very cutting instrument. The concrete room audio gives an unfortunate sheen to Regni's otherwise fine tone. A mixed bag, with my thumb aiming down at the end.

RITTER

American Record Guide January/February 2000

©2000 American Record Guide. Used by permission.

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