The Berceuse felt a little heavy, but the Infernal Dance of King Kastchei, with blaring baritone and tenor saxes offset by shrieking upper parts, was fantastic. The orchestral colours of StravinskyвЂ™s Firebird concert suite are so vivid that you couldnвЂ™t help miss them in this arrangement, though the fluttering music of the FirebirdвЂ™s dance was great. The second half saw Meyer and the Alliage tackle some larger works. The racing semiquavers and bell-like chords in the first movement felt made-to-order for this group, while MeyerвЂ™s mellow clarinet melody in the second movement was beautiful. The Polka, again Gauthier and Meyer, brought the suite to a rollicking conclusion.Дarius MilhaudвЂ™s Scaramouche вЂ“ originally music for a childrenвЂ™s production of MoliГЁreвЂ™s The Flying Doctor at the Scaramouche Theatre in Paris that became a work for saxophone (later Benny GoodmanвЂ™s clarinet) and orchestra вЂ“ was perhaps the most successful arrangement of the evening. Lilting tenor sax (Simon Hanrath) and baritone took care of the Elegie in the second half while BaeвЂ™s piano whirled against alto sax and clarinet in the Walzer (the intonation here impeccable). The intonation between Meyer and Hayrapet Arakelyan on alto felt slightly uncomfortable in the Prelude from The Gadfly (music Shostakovich originally wrote for the 1955 film) her timbre complemented GauthierвЂ™s effectively in the Gavotte. ShostakovichвЂ™s Five Pieces (corralled together and arranged for two violins and piano by Lev Atovmyan with the composerвЂ™s blessing) stripped the texture back to just three voices, the musicians joining Alliage pianist Jang Eun Bae in a variety of configurations, the suite split over the two halves of the concert. The ensembleвЂ™s timbre seemed better suited to the magical haze that opened DukasвЂ™ The SorcererвЂ™s Apprentice, Sebastian PottmeierвЂ™s baritone sax tiptoeing marvellously and Sabine Meyer joining the group on stage to deliver virtuosic flourishes, her sound clear and distinct from the saxophones. While in this instrumental combination the lines of the overture were slightly muddied by the thick sonority of the four saxophones, the musiciansвЂ™ bouncing energy was infectious. The Candide Overture was despatched with dextrous vigour from the Alliage, the wonderfully dark-hued soprano sax of Daniel Gauthier (who founded the group) gilding the upper edge of the ensembleвЂ™s sound. This was a program of bite-sized orchestral miniatures and favourites, arranged especially for the combination and delivered with energetic panache.

From the brightly scurrying Overture of Leonard BernsteinвЂ™s Candide вЂ“ arranged for the AlliageвЂ™s baritone, tenor, alto and soprano saxophones and piano by Itai Sobol вЂ“ to MilhaudвЂ™s bubbling Scaramouche, the program had a vibrant party atmosphere. While fairy tales were the theme of Musica VivaвЂ™s first tour of 2018, featuring German clarinettist Sabine Meyer (who was last here in 2011 with the Modigliani Quartet in 2011) and the Alliage Quintett, it could have easily been the circus.

Overture to candide clarinet quartet