Superbly realised: Elements from saxophonist Huw Wiggin & harpist Oliver Wass

Elements – Charlotte Harding, Yshani Perinpanayagam, David Wallace, Simon Rowland-Jones, Laura Bowler, Andy Scott, Couperin, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach, Corelli; Huw Wiggin, Oliver Wass, Leander Kippenberg; Orchid Classics
Reviewed 4 September 2026

Using the four classical elements – Earth, Air, Fire, and Water – as inspiration, this vivid and varied recital pairs new works with transcriptions of Baroque works to showcase the unusual but superbly realised duo of saxophone and harp

This recent(ish) disc on Orchid Classics, Elements combines the talents of harpist Oliver Wass and saxophonist Huw Wiggin. Saxophone and harp are not an obvious combination but here the two make it work wonderfully. The disc is themed around the elements, with new pieces by Charlotte Harding, Yshani Perinpanayagam, David Wallace, Simon Rowland-Jones, Laura Bowler, and Andy Scott, paired with adaptations of Couperin, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach, and Corelli.

You only have to listen to the first track, the duo’s transcription of Francois Couperin’s Le Rossignol en Amour to get a feel for the rather seductive soundworld of the disc. The two bring enormous clarity and a sense of style to the music, along with a rather spare feel. Wass does not overfill the harp accompaniment and the contrast between the two soundworlds – saxophone and harp – works well.

Next comes Charlotte Harding’s intriguingly titled Euphotic. According to the notes “The ‘euphotic’ or ‘sunlight’ zone is the upper layer of a body of water where there is light energy sufficient for photosynthesis to occur”. The piece presents a fluidly engaging saxophone line sparkling of the harps running watery figures. The whole has a sense of impetus which is very modern, yet manages to be haunting too.

Next we return to the Baroque for the aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations in an elegant transcription by Wass where the discreet harp support allows Wiggin’s saxophone to sing. There is more singing in the next track too, the duo’s transcription of Purcell’s Dido’s Lament where they are joined by cellist Leander Kippenberg. It is Kippenberg who gets the famous sighing ground bass line, and again Wass’s contribution on harp is discreet support. Wiggin keeps his saxophone close to the voice making for an elegant and moving transcription.

Yshani Perinpanayagam’ s The Weary Soil and the Greedy Shoot is based on an imaginary and salutary fable about consumption of natural resources. This begins almost from nothing, intimate concentrated and thoughtful the two instrumental parts contrasting in material and timbre. Growing in intensity, Perinpanayagam tightens the harmonic screw without ever allowing things to become too demonstrative.

The Largo from Vivaldi’s Spring from The Four Seasons is given in a transcription by French composer Bernard Dewagtere. The result here is something rather thoughtful, and again Wiggin gets to show off his wonderfully singing line.

David Wallace describes blowing a gale as beginning with something of an Irish jig in triple time though it is well disguised and the music quickly moves to a depiction of wind. It is a bravura and rather engaging piece, the jig elements providing rhythmic and melodic motifs within busy whole. Yet however dense the writing, however busy the notes, the piece retains something of a Celtic air to it.

The well-known Air from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No.3 is heard in a transcription by Iain Farrington that proves to be stylish yet quietly meditative. Simon Rowland-Jones’s Silent Air begins quietly and intensely with use of silence. Rowland-Jones builds the piece out of short fragments which gradually coalesce, he describes them as seeming to be plucked from the air. The two instruments developed a sort of dialogue, yet one where the silence between is important.

Next comes a solo moment for Wass with his transcription of the Sarabande from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3. Wass manages to evoke the Baroque but seen through the rather sound of the modern pedal harp, elgant and rather magic. The duo is joined by Kippenberg for Corelli’s La folia in Wass and Wiggin’s transcription. The managed to move from the stylishly elegant to something more bravura. Wiggin’s virtuoso moments are often echoed by Kippenberg, and the result is rather an engaging tour de force.

Laura Bowler’s Caesium was intended to evoke fire. She describes herself as ‘drawn to caesium as a highly reactive soft silvery-gold metal that reacts explosively with water and catches fire spontaneously in air’. The work begins a vivid swirl of material, edgy and vivid yet gradual dies down to material that makes time stretch. But as with all good fires, it catches again at the end.

We return to Bach for his Two-Part Invention No. 8 in F major for something wonderfully elegant and palate cleansing.

Andy Scott says of Sussurros Brasileiros that his “concept was to combine grooves and musical rhythms that I love from Brazil with the many sound worlds that are available to the saxophone and harp via contemporary classical music”. The result is glorious catchy, full of snappy rhythms and delightful grooves. We return to Corelli and to the same set of sonatas that La folia comes from with the Allegro from Sonata Op. 5 No. 4 in F major with Wiggin, Wass and Kippenberg, again for something elegantly palate cleansing yet vivid too.

A further piece by Laura Bowler, With You was in fact written for Wiggin to play at Bowler’s mother’s funeral. A haunting, spare piece for solo saxophone that ends the recital with an element of touching uncertainty.

The Elemental nature of the music is not always obvious at first sight, but Wiggin and Wass have assembled a rather engaging mix of new and old. The new pieces vividly varied, displaying the wide rather that the duo have, and their engagingly elegant Baroque transcriptions providing both palate cleansers and a chance for Wiggin’s saxophone to show its fine singing quality.

Highly recommended

Oliver Wass & Hugh Wiggin

François Couperin (1668-1733) – Le Rossignol en Amour
Charlotte Harding (b.1989) – Euphotic
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) – Goldberg Aria – Aria mit versheidenen Veränderungen, BWV 988
Henry Purcell (1659-1695) – Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: Lament. When I am laid in Earth
Yshani Perinpanayagam (b.1983) – The Weary Soil and the Greedy Shoot
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) – Largo from The Four Seasons, Concerto No. 1 in E Major, Op. 8 RV 269 Spring
David Wallace (b.1982) – blowing A gale
Johann Sebastian Bach – Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 4.35 Arranged by Iain Farrington
Simon Rowland-Jones (b.1950) – Silent Air
Johann Sebastian Bach – Sarabande from French Suite No. 3 in B Minor for solo harp, BWV 814
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) – La Follia, Op. 5 No. 12
Laura Bowler (b.1986) – Caesium
Johann Sebastian Bach – Two part invention in F Major, No. 8, BWV 779
Andy Scott (b.1966) – Sussurros Brasileiros
Arcangelo Corelli – Allegro from Sonata No. 4 in F Major
Laura Bowler – With You
Huw Wiggin (saxophone)
Oliver Wass (harp)
Leander Kippenberg (cello)
Recorded at All Saints Church, Dunsden Green, Oxfordshire on 7-9 July 2025
ORCHID CLASSICS ORCD100457