Contributors

Guy LACOUR was born on June 8, 1932, in Soissons (Aisne). He began his musical studies, of music notation and saxophone, in his native town at the age of 10. He soon joined local musical societies, and won his first diplomas at the Confédération Musicale de France. He then came to Paris, studied with Marcel JOSSE, and won a first prize at the Conservatory of Versailles. In 1950 he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and won the 1st prize for saxophone in 1952 (class of Marcel MULE) and a 1st prize for chamber music in 1955 (class of Fernand OUBRADOUS).

From then on there were three facets to his career. As a pop saxophonist, he could be found in several top groups of the time, as well as the great music halls and cabarets of Paris (the Lido, Moulin Rouge, Folies Bergère, etc.). At the same time, as a classical saxophonist he made many appearances with radio, opera, and symphony orchestras. In 1960, he joined the famous Marcel Mule Quartet as tenor saxophonist, the instrument in which he specialised, which led to his being asked to participate in many concerts and recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (H. von KARAJAN), the Orchestra of Paris (D. BARENBOIM) and as a soloist, thus increasing awareness of the somewhat rare repertoire for tenor saxophone. When the Mule Quartet broke up, Guy LACOUR worked for several years with the Ensemble de Saxophones Français.

His teaching career began in 1975. He taught saxophone in several conservatories in the Paris region, but subsequently only kept one position -that of teacher at the École Nationale de Musique Edgar Varèse at Gennevilliers (Haut de Seine). The same year he was named as director of the Municipal Conservatory of Mantes-la-Ville (Yvelines). His fame led to his involvement in the work of several juries, and to his regular membership of various teaching commissions. A founder member of the Association des Saxophonistes de France, Guy LACOUR later was to become an honorary member for his services to the saxophone. He also becam a technical adviser and saxophone tester for the SELMER factory in Mantes-la -Ville.

In 1992, he gave up all his other activities to devote himself entirely to the third aspect of his career : composition - his first pieces go back to 1963. Self-taught, as appropriate he uses tonal, atonal, serial or modal techniques in his works, essentially intended to display all the lyrical and technical possibilities of his own instrument. They are regularly selected for the programs of national and international contests. His «Hommage to Jacques Ibert», a concertino for alto saxophone and orchestra, written in 1972 for the 10th anniversary of the composer’s death, was honoured with a commission from the Ministry of Culture.

His teaching activities led him to examine the teaching materials available to teachers, and to fill certain gaps he wrote an important series of educational works including «50 Études, easy and progressive», which are one of the best-sellers for Editions Gérard Billaudot, and «28 Études on limited transpositions modes», prefaced by Olivier MESSIAEN, these have been adapted for the flute, the oboe, the clarinet, the bassoon, the violin and the xylophone as well. He also focuses on short pieces for all levels written for conservatoire exams, covering all the wind instruments from the flute to the tuba.

For the same publisher, Guy LACOUR edits a collection entitled «A l’approche de ...», comprising two parts : one intended to initiate pupils to chamber music, the other enabling the orchestras of music schools to build a repertoire suited to their level of abilities. The arrangements done by Guy LACOUR in the 15 volumes which have appeared have had great success, and France Musique devoted a radio broadcast to them in 1991.