Bach's Unaccompanied Suites beautifully and meticulously edited for Trumpet by Ralph Sauer as a 48 page textbook. Mr. Sauer's thoughtful version of the Six Suites gives the performer "room to breathe" musically. To quote Mr. Sauer and Pablo Casals,"I refrained from using fanciful descriptive terms such as con brio, or quasi una fantasia because they may suggest a particular style...This transcription is not intended to be a blueprint to be followed exactly, but rather, it is the raw material from which a personal interpretation can be built."To quote Pablo Casals, "Where interpreting Bach's music is concerned, there are no hard and fast rules...The best thing to do is to discard all preconceived ideas and try to approach in our performances whatever the music conveys to us..."
Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, the English and French Suites, the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, the Cello Suites, more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor.
Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as the supreme composer of the Baroque style, and as one of the greatest composers of all time.
In 1974, Sauer was named Principal Trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Zubin Mehta. He made his Los Angeles Philharmonic concerto debut in 1979, performing Kazimierz Serocki's Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra with Zubin Mehta conducting - a work whose U.S. premiere Sauer gave at the Eastman School of Music in 1965. In March 2003, Sauer premiered Augusta Read Thomas’s Trombone Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. He was also a frequent performer with the Philharmonic's New Music Group. He retired from the orchestra in 2006.
Sauer has appeared as soloist with many orchestras and has given master classes and recitals throughout Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, and the United States. He has appeared at the Stratford, Marlboro, and Aspen summer music festivals and was visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music as well as an instructor with the New World Symphony (Miami) and the International Brass Festival in Melbourne (Australia). Currently, Sauer is on the faculty of Music Academy of the West and Arizona State University. He has taught many prominent trombonists, including Christian Lindberg.
Sauer is a founding member of Summit Brass, and is a clinician for Shires trombones.
He is featured on a number of recordings, including: A recording of works by Teleman, Handel, Haydn, and others (with Zita Carno on keyboards) (Crystal Records) The Mahler Symphony No. 3 , with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic (with Anna Larsson, contralto; Donald Green, posthorn; Martin Chalifour, violin; Paulist Boy Choristers of California, Women of the Los Angeles Master Chorale) (Sony Classical)
Two discs of orchestral excerpts for trombone with commentary (Summit Records, OrchestraPro series). These are among the most sought after discs for those preparing for orchestral trombone auditions.