KARACHI: How often does one get to hear a saxophone quartet in Karachi? Answer: very rarely. So, what lovers of western classical music witnessed at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, on Wednesday was an audio-visual treat. Visual, too, because now it seems that the debilitating effects of the pandemic are on their way out. Although the auditorium was not fully packed, a reasonably good number of listeners thoroughly enjoyed the Arcis Saxophone Quartett’s performance which was simply marvelous.

The Munich-based quartet comprises Claus Hierluksch (soprano saxophone), Ricarda Fuss (alto saxophone), Edoardo Zotti (tenor saxophone) and Jure Knez (baritone saxophone). Obviously, most of those who had come to the concert were not acquainted with the names; they, at least some of them, were definitely familiar with the master composers whose pieces the quartet played – Ferenc Farkas, Dmitri Shostakovich, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin. Mind you, the musicians did not begin their performance with the Hungarian composer’s ‘Dances from the 17th Century’ as was listed on the programme and told by German Consul-General Holger Ziegeler in his opening address. Instead, they set the tone for the show with the national anthems of Germany and Pakistan. It was such a delight to hear wonderful saxophonists play the anthems.

In between their pieces, one of the four artists would take the mic and talk about the history of the instrument (invented by Adolphe Sax) or the composers whose works they were about to play in order to enable the audience of the feel of what was to come. Their effort bore fruit as, for example in the ‘foxtrot’ item from Shostakovich’s ‘Suite for Jazz’, music buffs were totally engaged in story the composition was trying to tell them. Having said this, it was a relatively more modern composer Bernstein’s ‘West Side Story Suite’ that got the audience even to clap because of the beat that the sax players were generating by stomping their feet on the stage. Perhaps it’s known territory for the ones who clapped because a new film version of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg was released last year.

All in all, the concert was a great experience, particularly in the sense that it was the first visit to Karachi of an international group of performers after a long, Covid-bitten time.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2022