Theme From Schindler’s List for Soprano Sax and Wind Ensemble

This particular version of the main Theme From Schindler’s List is a fabulous and wondrous. I have always loved music with a soprano saxophone or an English Horn for the solo up front.

The woodwinds are in particularly nice form throughout this rather brief passage. It’s as if they’re scurrying away to make room for the soprano saxophone soloist. The opening chords of this song in a haunting A minor are a fabulous backdrop from the soprano saxophonist to do this lovely lyrical theme. This theme has such beauty and longing it can really hold you. The phrasing of each lick of the piece is just gorgeous. It is a short piece but it is one that you can listen to over and over again. The piece has a ton of great melody over all the range of the saxophone from lower notes to higher notes. It is really quite fulfilling to listen to.

The artist on the soprano saxophone is Noelle Fabian, a wonderful player. The way she phrases everything in this piece is just beautiful. The ensemble plays a great backing part—a luscious bed of chordal material on which the soprano saxophone plays. It would be even better to see and hear this piece in person. This would sound like any of the sad music that would have been composed around the time of the holocaust. It can be hard to listen to. It can remind one of other sad memories that come up in life. It conjures up feelings of intense brokenness and strife in some ways and a bleak hope of happiness in others. It’s a very hard and high time that is had in the music. It’s a brief but great example of what happened during 1940’s Nazi Germany. If you’ve seen the film, you know the score and this arrangement nails it.