Karel Husa's Élégie et rondeau was inspired by the playing of Sigurd Rascher, the first classical saxophone virtuoso. Husa had begun the work as a solo piano piece but quickly recognized that the saxophone's golden tone and sustained notes would add expressive capacity to the music, and rewrote it for saxophone and piano. When Husa added the Rondeau section, he transcribed both pieces for orchestra. In either version, the saxophone stands out because of Husa's idiomatic writing, making a fine tribute to Rascher. The Élegie begins as mournfully as one might expect, a sorrowful saxophone line underlaid with muted violins. It seems as though this melody could spool out forever, but a sudden bump and jarring trills in the saxophone introduce agitation. The saxophone climbs to the very top of its range, sounding anguished as the orchestra whoops to a feverish climax. Having spent itself, the music calms once again, returning to the texture of the opening bars just before the Rondeau begins. Husa's plan for this section consists of a slow crescendo from pianissimo to fortissimo, and the movement begins with tiny, pointed notes in the percussion and a three-note cell from the saxophone. This cell becomes the basis for longer melodies, and as the melodies become more and more passionate the orchestra grows more and more forceful. The initial three-note cell is never far away in the music, and the saxophone's oscillating riffs on it soon seem obsessive, driving the music onward. The orchestral accompaniment becomes fiercer and fiercer, until finally at the closing climax the saxophone must struggle to be heard.

© Andrew Lindemann Malone, All Music Guide