Clarinet and Saxophone Magazine

June 2026

ON THE DOUBLE! A BROADWAY STYLE OVERTURE FOR FOUR WOODWIND DOUBLERS

James Rae
Clifton Edition

Many of James Rae’s publications are set by the UK examination boards and most musicians would have played something written by Rae on their journeys through the grade exams. On the Double! does exactly what the subtitle says – A Broadway Style Overture – indeed, an overture worthy of opening any musical. Plus the line-up of four players doubling brings to mind images of the orchestral pit of musicians surrounded by a forest of instruments.

The four players between them have a total of ten instruments:

• Player 1: Alto Saxophone, Flute and Piccolo
• Player 2: Alto Saxophone, Flute and Clarinet
• Player 3: Tenor Saxophone and Bass Clarinet
• Player 4: Baritone Saxophone and Clarinet

This work, just under five minutes in duration, has four main sections: a fast opening, a swing section, a soft shoe section and a concluding faster section. As always with James Rae, the music is toe-tappingly good, melodic and full of invention.

But be warned, every player has something major to contribute during this short tour de force; there is no hiding for anyone and this is what makes Rae’s music so inspiring. You don’t get bored, and even a supporting role has a major contribution to make. This is fun music and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Commissioned by Paul Saunders, a multi-instrumental teacher at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, this will be a great piece for students to tackle. The score and parts are well presented by Clifton Edition and I take my hat off to Mark Goddard for this new enterprise. I do applaud people who take the plunge and publish music like this; sometimes this music just needs to be heard and available for people to enjoy.

And people will enjoy this piece; but it is possible that sales will be small due to the instrumental line-up. It may have been useful to have cued some sections so that the whole piece could be played by saxophone quartet – but then, the music would lose some of its colour. It’s a fantastic piece and credit is due to Mark Goddard for making this publication available.

Adrian Connell