Brass to the fore
Garth WilshereReviewed by Garth Wilshere
THIS is the third sectional showcase and after strings last year and winds earlier in the year we reached brass, with some friends from the percussion section.
Understandably most were arrangements for an ensemble and a selection of brass instruments, with percussion adding some variety and extra tonal contributions to balance the brass.
Elgar’s Severn Suite (arr.Wick ) worked quite well with the brass in a semicircle on stage, percussion behind. In this the instrumental groups were arrayed together. Various players chatted comfortably introducing the pieces.
There was sombre Nordic poignancy in the Grieg “Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak (arr. Emerson), which showed subtlety and warm colour.
Trombonist Peter Maunder arranged the Music for the Royal Fireworks which worked quite well and naturally Handel’s celebratory brass flourishes and fanfares were effective and well captured with excitement and vitality.
The baroque of Gabrielli with the instruments up behind the stage gave spatial splendour to the sound, which was nicely realised in his Sacrae Symphonaie: Canzon 10 and in another Maunder arrangement the Richard Strauss Festmusik der Stadt wein was a suitable and appropriate end to the concert.
A surprise addition of an arrangement of two of Bruckner’s Motets for brass quartet added interest and demonstrated his way with brass writing, and wheeling on, of a drum kit to centre stage, brought excitement and rhythmic excellence from percussionist Leonard Sakofsky to go with the brass in the encore of Duke Ellington’s Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me (arr. Elkjer).









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