Confluence (Albany Records) Reviews

The Ancia Saxophone Quartet, i.e. Matthew Sintchak (soprano), David Milne (tenor), Joan Hutton (alto), and Angela Wyatt (baritone), have been widening their saxophone arsenal for over 30 years now, and here they flesh out 5 in depth pieces with incredible attention to detail.
Piazzolla’s “Tango Suite” opens the listen with 3 very animated and dynamic segments that are as unpredictable as they are exciting, and Larsen’s “Confluence” follows with a stirring, emotive presence, where each player’s respective strengths shine in the sometimes bare, other times firm appeal that is quite cinematic.
“Dervish” arrives at the halfway point, and quivers with a charming intimacy that builds into a tense display, while “Three Jazz Settings For Saxophone Quartet” unfolds with 3 very distinct chapters of haunting, playful and thriving jazz bursts in the Ricker composition.
“Thank you”, by Dodgion, exits the listen, and it’s a soulful, precise and delightfully stylish and memorable closer that truly showcases the chemistry between the quartet.
A very artistic delivery that involves much technique, timbral presence and focus, there is a great deal of balance between sophistication and adventurousness to be found and appreciated here.
~August 23, 2023, TakeEffectReviews.com

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Matthew Sintchak (soprano), Joan Hutton (alto), David Milne (tenor), and Angela Wyatt (baritone) are the Ancia Saxophone Quartet, an active Minneapolis-based ensemble that regularly commissions new music and whose members teach at colleges in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Fellow Minneapolis musician and distinguished American composer Libby Larsen (b. 1950) contributes the headline work, Confluence, written for an Ancia appearance at the 2015 World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, France. Cast in four movements, the piece depicts the joining of important rivers in Europe, Asia, and the United States. At the same time, the title suits the album, a meeting of markedly different strains of music.  
The recital begins with Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla (1921-92) and a transcription of his three-movement Tango Suite (1983), originally for two guitars. Indianapolis jazz pianist Chris Rutkowski occupies the center of the program with Dervish (1999), a fantasy on a 15th Century Turkish dance that Sufi Islam priests perform at ceremonies.
In 1965 trumpeter Thad Jones and drum- mer Mel Lewis founded their famous jazz orchestra in New York—an ensemble that still performs at the Village Vanguard jazz club in Greenwich Village. In 1976 one of the members of this group, the late American jazz saxophonist-flutist Jerry Dodgion (1932-2023), paid tribute to the recently deceased composer and bandleader Duke Ellington (1899-1974) with Thank You.
The presentation is thoroughly professional and artistically convincing. Ancia plays with clear timbres, expressive personality, superb technique, and terrific balance, blend, and teamwork; and the ensemble executes a staggering variety of contrasting styles with expertise and panache. The Larsen alone is a remarkable challenge, requiring aesthetic awareness, polished lyricism, and some hair-raising multiphonics; and the Ricker is a rollicking piece of sophisticated jazz that calls for a level of capability and virtuosity above the norm for the genre.
In addition, the Piazzolla and the Rutkowski are substantial works in vastly different folk idioms—a programming choice that will stretch any group. But this release is more than just a repertoire seminar; it is a brilliantly played concert.
~Patrick Hanudel, American Record Guide July/August 2023

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ANCIA Saxophone Quartet Feature by Chamber Music America
The ANCIA Saxophone Quartet was featured in the “American Ensemble” column in Chamber Music America’s magazine:  “The group approaches the commissioning and performance of new works as a special mission.  Not only does it regularly play music by contemporary composers like William Bolcom and Philip Glass, it has introduced more than two dozen works, including pieces by Jennifer Higdon and Lei Liang.  The quartet’s dealings with composers can be deeply collaborative.”  

Eugene Rousseau
“A fine ensemble of dedicated saxophonists, the Ancia Quartet performs with energy, precision, and a huge dynamic range in creating exquisite musical interpretations… four outstanding musicians whose presentations demonstrate the joy and power of music.”
 ~ Eugene Rousseau, Professor of Saxophone, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Indiana University

Short Stories CD Reviews:

“In this day and age, groups have to demonstrate that they are at home in a range of repertoire and styles, and in this recital the Ancia Quartet does just that. They indulge in the thick European-style romanticism of Ives, but allow the more transparent American romanticism of Higdon and the colorful minimalist landscape of Torke to shimmer. At the same time, they aggressively spit out the angular melodies, virtuosic licks, and dissonant polyphony in Higdon’s fast movements; and they easily shift between the abstract tonality and the pop rhythms in the Bixler and the Macy. Sturm’s cool jazz and improvisatory feel and Morton’s Dixieland-style dance tune both give the ensemble the chance to “let their hair down” and have some fun; and indeed, the listener will find it hard not to start tapping his toes.  This is well done; the casual listener will enjoy it just as much as the curious composer or the record-collecting saxophonist.”
~ American Record Guide, Patrick Hanudel

“This is an excellent collection of modern saxophone quartets written by some notable and exceptional composers. The title track Short Stories is also the best and most substantive piece on this disc. Jennifer Higdon is a much-admired composer—at least by me—and has created some outstanding orchestral and chamber works. It is heartening to see that she has not snubbed her nose at the idea of a sax quartet but has instead written a major work (26 minutes) of import and depth. The piece, from 1995, is a series of vignettes giving aural descriptions of little couple-of-lines stories. In six movements, we have “Chase”, “Summer’s Eve”, “Lullaby”, “Splashing the Canvass”, “Coyote Nights”, and “Stomp and Dance”, each of them as blatantly descriptive as can be without being too obvious. But then again, part of the enjoyment is how redolent the music is of these stories, supplied in depth in the notes. This is an outstanding work.  The Ancia Quartet, based in Minneapolis, has been around since 1990, and their unanimity of ensemble and complementary tonal qualities certainly testify to long experience in the field. Enthusiastically recommended.”
~ Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition, 4 stars

“Throughout the Ancia Saxophone Quartet show themselves as a technically adroit group with a palpable sense that they enjoy everything they play.”
 ~ David Denton, David’s Review Corner

“(Ancia) has been playing together since 1990, which practically places it as pioneers in what remains a growing field of ensembles in the United States…”
~ Dave Lewis, All Music Guide/AMG, 4 stars

“Elegantly and thoughtfully rendered…”
 ~ Michael Torke, Composer

 Performance Reviews
“The programming of the performance seemed to me to be especially well thought out; the variety of styles kept the listener’s interest high from the Bach through the wonderful Blackbottom Stomp! (I, and I’m sure much of the audience, would love to hear an all-jazz concert by the group.) Being an organist myself, I was amazed by the musicianship and technique you exhibited in the difficult Bach Prelude and Fugue.  Throughout the concert, your fine-tuned and sensitive ensemble playing was a delight to hear and observe. And since several of you are teachers and there were a number of children in the audience, the spoken explanations of the pieces was a very good idea… It is easy to see that you are four fine individual artists, and the combining of your talents and personalities results in some rarely heard and wonderful music making.”
~ Janice Derksen, Music at Hennepin, MN)

 “It was a great joy to have you return as guest artists for our event, and I know everyone in attendance enjoyed your excellent clinic and beautiful quartet playing…  I also appreciated the handout materials that you provided for distribution during your clinic.  The attention shown in the preparation of this information for our event was superb, and mirrored the world-class reputation that your group justly deserves.
~ Greg Keel, Saxophone Faculty at the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis, MN

 “All of the repertoire was captivating…  Many in our audience gave very positive reactions, and the several saxophone players from one of our area high school thought the concert was “very cool.”  Those of us in the musician ranks marveled at your tight musicianship and ensemble work, not to mention just the technical skill!”
~ Joyce Jensen, Faith Lutheran Church, Coon Rapids, MN

“You are extraordinary musicians with extraordinary talents.  Your choices of repertoire, your friendly and helpful comments between selections, your unique and warm sound, and your engaging personalities all blended into a “blessing-filled” afternoon and evening of music and social time.”
~ Lee Aftdahl, A Festival of Music, Rochester, MN