Whether the subject is geology, oceanography, meteorology or sociology, a stratum is a layer that is distinguished in someway from the layers below it and above it. Defined by these upper and lower boundaries – created through changes such as sedimentary deposits, sunlight penetration, atmospheric pressure or social class – a stratum can only be understood as such , diving or ascending on a perpendicular axis. It’s that perpendicular movement that makes a stratum what it is, that identifies it as something different from what lies above or below. This debut CD by the Laefer Quartet is organised around a movement up through physical strata, from under the ground to the heavens above.

Tim Rutherford-Johnson

It’s with huge honour I’m delighted to say that after over 10 years of the Laefer Quartet, we have released our debut album on the Coviello Contemporary label. The album features 6 commissions by us and all previously unrecorded works.

More information about the album and the concept behind it can be found here http://www.laeferquartet.com/the-album

The album is available to download here https://laeferquartet.bandcamp.com/album/strata as well as being available from other sources.

A massive thank you to all the collaborators on this album - you’re all amazing.
Please do take a listen to the album and let me know what you think!

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This November I was meant to be at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF) with Riot Ensemble but sadly, like many things, due to Covid-19 we weren't able to be there in person this year. Fortunately HCMF still put on a fantastic programme of events and I was lucky enough to give the online premier of a co-commision between Riot Ensemble and hcmfuk. The piece, 13.8 Billion Years, was by Anna Appleby, a fantastic composer and all round creative genius. It was an absolute pleasure to work with her over the past few months via Zoom (the power of technology!) and I was really pleased with the final piece. The piece imagines ‘the formation of the universe, through clouds of matter to galaxies, to stars, planets and, eventually, life’. The video is now available to listen to on Riot Ensemble’s YouTube channel by clicking HERE, enjoy!

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One of the brilliant things to come out of lockdown were the Zeitgeist Riot Ensemble commissions. I was lucky enough to work with the amazing composer Michaela Catranis on a commission which is now available to listen to, and in fact view, HERE. It was so great to be able to work closely with Michaela on this project (the power of technology and lots of Skype meetings!) and her creativity and ideas were inspiring.

‘Song of a Lonely Whale’ is about loneliness and is inspired by an account of the ‘loneliest whale in the world', also known as 52 Hz. His call resonates at a frequency higher than other whales so he roams the Pacific by himself. We were also lucky enough to have the talented Yukihiro Ikutani animate the piece for us. A massive thanks to Zeitgeist and Riot Ensemble for making this happen, and to Michaela for writing me such a wonderful piece.

Enjoy!

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This past month has been extremely challenging for everyone, and with concerts postponed for the foreseeable future my day-to-day life has looked very different! Technology has been a blessing, moving my teaching to online lessons. I have also taken the challenge of each working day learning a new duet and recording it with my husband (also a saxophonist). This has been a wonderful way of covering repertoire and keeping chamber music going as much as we can! We’ve posted them on Twitter as we’ve gone, but have also just loaded them on to this YouTube playlist here do check it out and I hope you enjoy! We will continue to add to it, so I hope it brings some joy in this troublesome time. Wishing everyone good health and to stay safe!

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What a great start to 2020 making my debut North America performances! Charlotte Harding and I toured our project, ‘Over 100 Years of Women and the Saxophone’, for 10 days, covering 6 States in total. The tour and our lecture-recital was in collaboration with Dr Thomas Smialek and composer L. A. Logrande, with the wonderful Ann Lee on piano. It was incredibly kindly supported by Penn State University so we are extremely grateful to them. Our first lecture-recital was at the US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium and it was wonderful to take part in such a fantastic two day event. We had a great time presenting our project, hearing great music, meeting new people, and catching up with old friends! Thank you to the US Navy Band for putting on such a great event. Our other recitals were at Penn State Hazleton and Penn State School of Music, and we even managed to squeeze in a masterclass at Penn State School of Music for David Stambler’s brilliant saxophone class, as well as a visit to Manhattan School of Music to chat to the saxophone students there. A brilliant and fun start to 2020, with much pecan pie enjoyed by all along the way!

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It was great to perform the Dutch premiere of Laurence Osborn’s ‘Ctrl’ with the Riot Ensemble this weekend as part of the amazing November Music series in s’-Hertogenbosch. Soprano Sarah Dacey absolutely rocked it as the soloist in this raucous yet sensitive piece. We can’t wait to bring the piece to London in February 2020 at Kings Place. To find out more and book tickets click HERE!

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It was such an honour to share the stage again with the incredible Vida Guitar Quartet performing Laura Snowden’s Light Perpetuum at the IGF London Guitar Festival in October as part of the Venus Unwrapped series at Kings Place. Vida commissioned Laura to write the piece 2 years ago and we premiered it at the very same venue. The piece is super fun to play and it amazes me how cleverly Laura handled the balance between the soprano saxophone and the 4 guitars. Working with the VGQ is always a dream and I look forward to the next time! You can listen to the piece alongside other great music on the album Bachianas or take a listen here.

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June and July have been a sunny and warm month, spending 3 weeks in the south of France with the Philharmonia Orchestra for the Festival in Aix-en-Provence. Temperatures hit record highs in the south of France during my time there, air-conditioning in the Grand Theatre Provence was much appreciated! Performances were of Kurt Weill’s opera The Rise and Fall of the City and Mahagonny (conducted by Essa-Pekka Salonen and stage direction by Ivo van Hove) and Gottfried Huppertz’s Metropolis with live screening. 

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