Saxophonist Kurt Bertels and pianist Bert Koch have created The Saxophone in 19th-Century Brussels as a document of saxophone performance practice at that time, in the hope that it will assist the saxophone to find its rightful place in historically informed performance practice.

This release is the artistic result of the doctoral research carried out by saxophonist Kurt Bertels - his research focused on the context, repertoire and performance practice of saxophonists who studied at the Brussels Conservatory between 1867 and 1904.

The founding of the saxophone department at the Brussels Conservatory in the 19th century was due to an initiative of François-Joseph Fétis (1784-1871), the first director of the Brussels Conservatory and a renowned musicologist, who wanted to make Brussels the central point of Belgian musical training. He was also known to be an advocate of the new instruments that were being developed by Antoine-Joseph (Adolphe) Sax (1814-1894); Fétis, together with Jean-Valentin Bender (1801-1873), the head of music of the Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides, quietly introduced Sax’s new instruments into the military bands of the time.

We hope, through this recording, to expand the traditional saxophone repertoire, presenting less familiar music for saxophone by composers who were active in the Brussels Conservatory during the above period.