G. Scelsi: Tre Pezzi (III)

Pedro Pablo Cámara Toldos

This CD aims to compile the most emblematic works of the end of the twentieth century while seeking to give more recent music a leading role because, fortunately, some of today’s creators are of the same quality as the most firmly-established figures of the previous period. This is not work about the flutter-tonguing “traditional contemporary saxophone”, display of the shallowest virtuosity, an accumulation of slaps or “strident multiphonics” used as effects, and which have been made an example of our feeblest “clichés”. Quite the contrary, the intention has been to select a programme where various styles coexist while seeking to keep in common the use the individual composers make of the saxophone, of course using E.Ts., although never as techniques themselves but rather with the aim of offering a message, part of the differentiated language of each. This is the main feature of the current panorama, the quest for a sonic language original to each composer, using the saxophone as the medium, never as the beginning or end of the composition.


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Pedro Camara

Pedro is a musician that keeps the essence of the music he plays: by making the saxophone his own voice, he speaks the language of each period to convey the history of each work. In this continuous search, he aims to equip the saxophone with a technique that adapts to each particular language, preventing the over-conditioning of the style by the instrument. His deep knowledge of the evolution of the repertoire and the possibilities of the saxophone are crucial for preserving the essence of every piece he plays. His training has been always as comprehensive and broad as possible. This perspective took him to work closely with great musicians in different fields and places: he did his saxophone training with Marcus Weiss in Switzerland and Vicente Toldos in Spain; he developed his chamber music skills with F. Rados, C. Martínez-Mehner, R. Schmidt, E. Feltz and S. Azzolini in the Hochschule für Musik of Basel (Switzerland); he obtained his bachelor degree in Musicology by the Universidad de La Rioja (Spain), and he also holds a diploma in Music Pedagogy by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). His career focus on chamber music: he founded and leads several projects such as the Tamgram Project, Opera Lab Berlin, Ivory &amp; Reed, Neophon Ensemble and Art Sound Quartet. He has participated in festivals such as Cervantino International Festival in Mexico, Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Klangwerkstatt Festival and Infektion Festival, both in Germany, Impuls Academyin Austria, Segovia Classical Music Festival in Spain, and Adelboden Festival, Montreux Festival and Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. He also collaborates with formations with a bigger format such as the European Philharmonic of Switzerland, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra and the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra. He has worked with world-leading conductors such as Simon Rattle. His continuous development of the musical language has produced an extensive corpus of new works; they have been born from a close collaboration with composers such as A. Paul, M. Far, C. Méndez, A. Frank, E.A. Lee, J.P. Polo or W. Zimmermann. Among his next projects are new works with J.L. Torá and J.M. Sánchez-Verdú. He has won more than 20 international competitions, such as BOG-Competition (Basel), Orpheus-Competition (Basel), KHS Musikpreise (Bern), Nicati de Luze (Lausanne), the 38eme Concurs de musique Lyceum Club (Lausanne) and the X and XI edition of the Chamber Music-Competition Monserrat Alavedra (Barcelona). Currently he is working in a serie of recordings for the label IBS Classical. The first two works of these series are already published: … con alcune licenze is a collaboration with pianist Camilla Köhnken (Ivory &amp; Reed) and Concertino da Camera was jointly recorded with the orchestra I musici di Basilea. This last recording obtained a five stars rating by Melómano, the prestigious Spanish magazine specialized in classical music. Pedro is currently a professor at the Centro Superior Katarina Gurska in Madrid and he also teaches at the International Community Music School in Basel.


Andreas Eduardo Frank (1987)
Between me and myself V* (2016) for alto saxophone and video

Óscar Escudero (1992)
POV* (2017) for soprano saxophone in VR glasses and video

Recording venue: 3-5 July 2017 and 19-20 April 2018. Agustinos Chapel, Granada (Spain)
Music Producer: Paco Moya
Soprano Selmer Serie III, Selmer Concept mouthpiece, 3 ½ D’Addario reeds, Silverstein Works ligature
Alto Selmer Serie II, Nick LM1 mouthpiece, 3 ½ Légère Signature reeds, Silverstein Works ligature
Tenor Selmer Serie II, Nick LM2 mouthpiece and Vandoren T20, 3 Vandoren reeds, Silverstein Works ligature
Baritone Selmer Serie III, Selmer E mouthpiece, 3 ½ Légère Signature reeds, Selmer traditional ligature
Text: Pedro Pablo Cámara Toldos
English translation: Gordon Burt
Photography: Jorge Serna Lozano (Cover) and Miguel Ángel Viñuela
Sponsors: Selmer Paris, Vandoren, Mafer Música, Puntorep, Playnick
Special thanks: to the amazing composers for the music and intensive work together, Torá, Paul, Alonso, Netti, Sánchez-Verdú, Méndez, Escudero and Frank. Also to the Sponsors because they are doing possible the production.
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