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<< -- 3 -- Robert Hugill UNUSUAL COMBINATION
In Fauré's Pavane, Rubinoff displays a lovely, long line when playing the solo part, but the organ accompaniment sounds sluggish, particularly in the middle section [listen -- track 3, 2:27-4:00] and I did not find the overall instrumental colouring entirely suitable for Fauré's delicate work. In Telemann's Musique Héroïque, Rubinoff's saxophone displays a martial, trumpet-like tone which is entirely suitable for the music. But Dawes' accompaniment is not as neo-classically precise as it should be and sounds a little muddy [listen -- track 4, 0:00-1:06]. These sort of problems reoccur in Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits which sounds distinctly ponderous and over endowed with low tones.
Whilst Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei lacks the haunting melancholy of the original, it does at least work reasonably well as a transcription. But Schubert's 'Serenade' (Ständchen) sounds disastrous on the organ [listen -- track 12, 0:10-0:43].
Rubinoff has a lovely technique and shows his metal in the original works on this disc, so it is a shame that he lets himself down with the arrangements. I just wish that he and Dawes had experimented with other keyboard accompaniments for the nineteenth and twentieth century works.
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