There is a CD with him playing the Von Koch Concerto which is available at amazon. Aside from that, Bryan Kendall has some great recordings. Search the forum for him, and it will direct you to his website.
There is also a recording of an unaccompanied piece by Haba and a recording of him doing the Debussy Rapsodie, both available from Amazon.
If you really want to get a sense of the spirit of his playing, the earlier recordings seem better to me. I'd recommend trying to get a copy of "A Classical Recital on the Saxophone", which is likely only available by word of mouth (i.e. mp3) or from the Brian Kendall collection mentioned earlier.
Alan, I assume you are referring to the "Haba Centenary" 3CD set? This has been out of print and scarce for a while to the best of my knowledge. Bryan Kendall does sell a copy of it.
If you do locate the Haba 3 CD set, make sure to check out the cello suite right before the Suite for saxophone. It is amazing.
There is an early recording of Rascher still available last I knew...a 1937 recording of Saxo-Rapsody by Eric Coates. It is on a CD of Coates' music. It is cheesy, but it is also one of the earliest recordings around of Rascher. He was only 30 y/o.
The Debussy recording is good, but not very representative of his earlier playing, when he was making a name for himself and getting so many works composed for him. When you hear his early recordings, you will not think his vibrato is too slow. That was a physical thing attributed to his aging.
I bought the Haba CD, but I had to go through a man in the Czech Republic who has the rights to all of Haba's music. If you're really interested, send me a private message (don't want to post some guy's email address).
I'd recommend trying to get a copy of "A Classical Recital on the Saxophone", which is likely only available by word of mouth (i.e. mp3) or from the Brian Kendall collection mentioned earlier.
It's also worth searching through used record stores. That's how I found my copy of the above-mentioned recording, as well as Rascher's recordings of the concertos of Von Koch and Brant, plus tons of other worthwhile classical sax recordings. Of course, this presumes that you have access to a working turntable, which you really should if you want to take full advantage of the history of the recorded classical saxophone. (For the record [no pun intended], I have found classical sax CDs in used record stores too.)
There is an early recording of Rascher still available last I knew...a 1937 recording of Saxo-Rapsody by Eric Coates. It is on a CD of Coates' music. It is cheesy, but it is also one of the earliest recordings around of Rascher. He was only 30 y/o.
I went looking for this at Amazon with no luck (not avaialble) and did a web search. I came up with this interesting tidbit from a Coates biography
In 1936, while on a visit to Belfast, Coates met the Danish virtuoso saxophonist Sigurd Rascher, and was greatly impressed by this remarkable musician. The latter's request for a special piece, however, did not meet with an immediate response. In fact, Coates put the whole thing out of his mind and, a few weeks later, he was obliged to effect a similar stalling exercise when the Director of the Folkestone Festival asked for a new work. Coates replied that he would only agree if the Director could engage the services of Rascher - an achievement the composer thought most unlikely.
But, on his return from a hastily-arranged visit to Sweden where he conducted a concert of his music, he found a letter saying that Rascher had, in fact, been engaged and so Coates had no choice but to get to work quickly. The upshot was the Saxo-Rhapsody, performed to great acclaim at the 1936 Folkestone Festival. That year also saw the completion of the much-demanded follow-up to the London Suite of three years earlier - the London Again Suite.
It's also worth searching through used record stores. That's how I found my copy of the above-mentioned recording, as well as Rascher's recordings of the concertos of Von Koch and Brant, plus tons of other worthwhile classical sax recordings. Of course, this presumes that you have access to a working turntable, which you really should if you want to take full advantage of the history of the recorded classical saxophone. (For the record [no pun intended], I have found classical sax CDs in used record stores too.)
You can get this at Berkshire Record Outlet. The listing doesn't mention Rascher, so you have to do a search for something like coates rhapsody - it's the CD on the Pearl label. They have a $15 minimum order so you'll have a good excuse to browse their other saxophone listings as well.
First I go to the "woodwind" section; then I check out the "brass" section (yes, there are still quite a few people who are unenlightened as to which family our instrument belongs to). After that, the "contemporary" section. Finally, I'll look through sections devoted to composers whose works I might be looking for.
It's often helpful to check with a store employee to see just how they file their recordings. Some stores will put an item in a "collections" section (e.g. woodwind, brass, orchestral, etc.) if there is more than one composer represented on the recording, while others will only do so if there are three or more composers, etc.
First I go to the "woodwind" section; then I check out the "brass" section (yes, there are still quite a few people who are unenlightened as to which family our instrument belongs to). After that, the "contemporary" section. Finally, I'll look through sections devoted to composers whose works I might be looking for.
It's often helpful to check with a store employee to see just how they file their recordings. Some stores will put an item in a "collections" section (e.g. woodwind, brass, orchestral, etc.) if there is more than one composer represented on the recording, while others will only do so if there are three or more composers, etc.
In response to the original query, the Rascher Saxophone Ensemble CD, recorded in the mid-70s, is available from CDBaby (and from tower.com, but it's more expensive there). Rascher plays some contrabass saxophone and conducts the ensemble, and all the ensemble members (including daughter Carina on soprano) are "Rascher school" players.
Remarkably, this CD is still available from Tap Music, and inexpensively. It's a workshop recording but still interesting.
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