As a duo Sauer and Wollny have released two studio albums on ACT, “Melancholia” (2005) and “Certain Beauty” (2006), the title of the latter taken from an Albert Mangelsdorff composition. The 2010 release “If (Blue) Then (Blue)” then featured Sauer in a series of sax/piano duets with Wollny and fellow pianist Joachim Kuhn although the two pianists did not actually appear together. However an excellent concert set recorded at Schloss Elmau in 2009 features Wollny and Kuhn operating both solo and in tandem on a thrilling series of piano pieces.

Sauer plays all the instruments of the saxophone family but has chosen to specialise on tenor in recent years. He is still an explorer who continues to push at the boundsaries of his chosen instrument and in the younger Wollny he has clearly found a kindred spirit. Wollny describes their music making as “giving up the control and seeing what happens” while Sauer speaks of being “open for the space, for the audience, the atmosphere and the vibes that reach us during the concert. A musical tightrope act without a net”. There is certainly a remarkable telepathy between them and a tremendous sense of empathy, Wollny sounds very different when he plays with Sauer than he does on his other recordings. The duo’s music is understated but nonetheless there’s a certain rigour about their work as they delicately push the envelope on a fascinating selection of pieces drawn from jazz, rock and pop plus a smattering of original material. Everything is carefully considered and not a note is wasted. 

The album commences with the duo’s version of Miles Davis’ “All Blues”, a tune that they also tackled on the “(If) Blue (Then) Blue” album. However this is no standard run through of a familiar theme, Sauer and Wollny make the piece very much their own as they probe and tease the contours and harmonies of the composition. Sauer’s tone is deep, breathy and ruminative as Wollny shadows him faithfully, the rapport between these two musicians of different generations is palpable as they mould Davis’ piece into a virtually new composition.

There’s a similar intimacy about the duo’s interpretation of pop songs. The pair first tackled Princes’ “Nothing Compares 2 U” on the “Certain Beauty” album. Compared to the Miles piece they remain closer to the melody of the original and retain something of the yearning and sadness of the Sinead O’ Connor interpretation of the song. Sauer’s playing has a hoarse, plaintive feel and the duo slide in a degree of jazz sophistication along the way. It’s a hugely popular item among the lucky members of the Darmstadt audience.

It was perhaps appropriate that Billie Holiday’s title track should have appeared on an album called “Melancholia”. Like the Prince piece the duo’s interpretation includes a degree of under the lid work from Wollny, his interior scrapings complementing the hoarse, lonesome whisper of Sauer’s tenor sax. Sauer retains the same tone through much of the album, it’s a highly personal, hugely eloquent sound made by a man still at the peak of his creative powers. Not to be outdone Wollny’s playing on an extended solo piano passage is eminently lyrical with only his interior work hinting at the Gothic leanings he expresses both with and in his solo work.