{TABLE} Fugues from The Art of Fugue .......... Bach Quartet for Saxophones, Op 102 ........ Schmitt Passamezza ............................ Theo Verbey ... so softly ......................... Ian Wilson Polka from The Golden Age ............. Shostakovich String Quartet in F ................... Ravel Fuga y misterio ....................... Piazzola {/TABLE} A SAXOPHONE quartet is a rare beast, at any rate in Ireland, so it was with pleasurable anticipation that one went to the Coach House in Dublin Castle last Saturday night to hear the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, who are touring Ireland for a fortnight.

The programme opened with a selection arranged from Bach's Art of Fugue. It was hard to distinguish the lines of the polyphony in such a small auditorium, but the shaping of the phrases was masterly and augured well for the works to follow.

Of the works written especially for four saxophones, the recent compositions by Theo Verbey and Ian Wilson were a delight in their skilful and airy handling of the medium, contrasting with the overheavy quartet of Florent Schmitt.

The Aurelia Quartet played most of the time without scores, thereby bringing a vibrant sense of immediacy to the performance. For the Shostakovich and Piazzola (both arranged by J. van der Linden, who plays the soprano saxophone) the players abandoned chairs as well as scores and swayed from side to side as if about to take flight through the roof and bring the audience with them.

The crown of the evening was undoubtedly Ravel's string quartet. It was a wholly successful transference from one medium to another that has to be heard to be believed. The expressive delicacy of the playing would have done credit to any string ensemble and the extrovert brilliance of the work was emphasised in a striking manner.