The Saxophone

For this, like the other instruments, I delved into the excellent book The Study of Orchestration 3rd Ed. by Samuel Adler:

• Used primarily as part of the woodwind family rather than brass.
• Its tone is closer to the clarinet than to any other; it is played with a mouthpiece and single reed like the clarinet, and clarinetists often double the saxophone as the fingerings and playing techniques are very similar.
• There are a great variety of saxophones, including soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass versions.
• Not a fully permanent member of the symphony orchestra, but many 19th and 20th century composers have utilised the saxophone, especially in solo passages.
• The sound is distinctive, and can often overpower the other instruments in the orchestra.
• Playing very softly at both ends of the range is difficult, but especially at the very bottom.
• Composers have distinguished between the sweet, sentimental, vibrato sound of the jazz sound, and the less vibrato, dynamically controlled symphonic sound.
• Often used by composers of the earlier 20th century to suggest jazz or popular music.