22 'Songs without Words' by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy for saxophone trio with/without guests and a short mystery story by Andrea Maria Schenkel.

The piano pieces by Felix Mendelssohn that have become famous under the name 'Songs without Words' were written during a time we know as the Romantic era, with its emphasis on emotion, passion and individual experience.

In the present chamber-music arrangements with saxophones, these piano pieces take on an added charge of deep emotion and personal expression.

Renowned soloists, all lovers of Mendelssohn's music, have responded to the invitation from Sax Allemande to take on solo parts in several 'Songs'. As well as creating additional variety, the guest instruments – violin, cello and horn – further enhance the vivid delineation of character in these works.

And what at first looked like a quirky idea, an imaginative and provocative reaction to the indication “... without words”, in the end became a special highlight: Andrea Maria Schenkel ('Tannöd'), inspired by a sample from the recording, uses words redolent of Mendelssohn's time to evoke, with great psychological insight, the emotions and states of mind typical of bourgeois society back then. The gradual unfolding of the mystery and its surprising conclusion are both characteristic of a “true” Schenkel crime story.

Founded in 1996, Sax Allemande received the special award for the 'most impressive performance of all participants in the final' at the International Yamaha Sax Contest in 2003. In 2009, it won the ECHO Klassik award in the category 'The chamber music recording of the year' for the album 'Ein Kagel-Schubert-Projekt'.