12-S-AXE by Gerald Preinfalk was created in 2011 in its original version for students of the classical saxophone of the University of Music Vienna and Graz in order to revive the “Axe” Graz-Wien.

The idea was to create a powerful orchestral contemporary work that incorporates common modern playing techniques right down to microtonality, as well as free space for improvisation as an antipole to the classical repertoire.

The centerpiece of the piece is the tenor sax solo, which traces an orc...