Stylus Fantasticus

When the idiosyncratic saxophone quartet BL!NDMAN confronted Bach’s chorale partitas in 1999, this immediately proved to be a match made in heaven. The solemn sound of the saxophones brought out the best in this polyphonic music, and this is also true of the music of Buxtehude and Gesualdo, which the quartet is now tackling. Eric Sleichim arranged compositions in the Stylus Fantasticus or “fantastical style” of Buxtehude, whose innovations paved the way for the High Baroque. A century earlier, Gesualdo created a recognisable style with chromatic madrigals. Complex music with a simultaneously expressive sound, perfectly suited to BL!NDMAN. With respect for the original and a real appetite for innovation.