Amy Dickson: Siren of seductive, late-night sax To enhance the period effect, she and producer James McMillan recorded the tracks at Angel Studios in Islington, using vintage microphones in a room "where they have this specific wood panelling that gives you that particular sound." It wouldn't weave its faintly narcotic magic were the arrangements not so fastidiously restrained, or Dickson's saxophone playing not so smooth and languid. She has the technical finesse to play just about anything - indeed, in the saxophone concerto that Ross Edwards recently composed for her, there are freakish high notes that are (as the old jazzers used to say) "not on the horn," while her arrangement of Philip Glass's Violin Concerto forced her to push the technique of "circular breathing" beyond its known limits - but she found that interpreting such seemingly simple tunes as Hoagy Carmichael's Skylark or I Only Have Eyes For You wasn't entirely straightforward. It's true that they aren't that challenging technically, but in a way those pieces are the most unforgiving. They're totally transparent, and musically you have to have a very firm view of what you want. There's no hiding behind notes. Everyone can see exactly where you're going with every phrase, and every note is on show. Just to remind everyone that she can play fast, tricky passages when necessary, she lobbed in a version of Debussy's skittish Dr Gradus ad Parnassum. I wanted something a little bit challenging note-wise, and I used to play it on piano when I was a kid so I knew it very well. It should actually be a bit faster, as it would be on piano, but the saxophone wasn't cutting through, so we slowed it down a little. Mellow midnight music notwithstanding, Dickson is emphatic that she sees herself squarely in the classical music tradition. She played some jazz in her youth, but felt instinctively it wasn't where she belonged. I played in quite a few big bands, but I chose to be solely classical when I went to music college. This is my calling and what I'm passionate about, and jazz just feels to me like it's a different language. I can speak it but I can't ever feel really comfortable conversing in it. She exhibited prolific musical talent from a young age, winning every competition available in her native Australia before realising that she had to come to London to realise her full potential. She studied with Kyle Horch at the Royal College of Music, and at weekends shuttled across to Holland for lessons with Arno Bornkamp at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Meanwhile she funded herself by teaching sports at a Hertfordshire prep school. In a parallel life, she might have become a swimmer, having been raised in fine Aussie outdoor style, but remembers: "My mother always told me I spent too much time trying to look good and never got anywhere quickly enough. But I love sport and I come from a sporty family. The cricket was always on TV for the whole summer. She's haunted by a nightmarish memory of going to the last Ashes Test Match in Sydney, where she "watched two Englishmen bat for the entire day," but nonetheless is planning a musical charity gala night before the Ashes series begins in England in July. She was intrigued to learn that Australian skipper Michael Clarke is a keen saxophone player. Interest in the saxophone is growing really quickly. I had to come to England because I'd studied with all the teachers in Sydney, but these days there are tutors springing up everywhere. Dusk & Dawn" is released today on Sony