Hammered Brass
Compulsory purchases of wideranging repertory for lovers of brass repertoire
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Luciano Berio, Petr Eben, Iannis Xenakis, Robert Crawford, Steve Martland
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Linn
Magazine Review Date: 6/2002
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 56
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CKD162
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Quintet, 'Variazioni sul'uno corale' |
Petr Eben, Composer
Petr Eben, Composer Wallace Collection |
Call |
Luciano Berio, Composer
Luciano Berio, Composer Wallace Collection |
Hammered Brass |
Robert Crawford, Composer
Kevin Hathway, Percussion Robert Crawford, Composer Wallace Collection |
Khal Perr |
Iannis Xenakis, Composer
Christopher Terian, Percussion Iannis Xenakis, Composer Kevin Hathway, Percussion Wallace Collection |
Full Fathom Five |
Steve Martland, Composer
Steve Martland, Composer Wallace Collection |
Author:
With The Wallace Collection about to reform in a new guise‚ the appearance of these two discs is a timely reminder of their prowess across the everexpanding brass quintet medium – though anyone who heard their recent London concert featuring masses by Stravinsky and Bruckner will know that their remit is itself far wider.
‘Hammered Brass’ is contemporary repertoire with a vengeance‚ all the works except one dating from the last 20 years. Petr Eben’s 1969 Quintet exploits the composite nature of the ensemble by having a different combination for each of its five variations on a chorale theme. The agile partwriting and crisp neoclassical idiom‚ tempered by the pensive fourth variation‚ are strikingly offset by Berio’s brief but dense Call‚ a riot of signals and responses.
Raw material and craftmanship feature at a conceptual as well as an aural level in Hammered Brass‚ in which Robert Crawford resourcefully explores the manufacturing process in musical terms‚ such as the Tippettstyle rhythmic intricacy of ‘Quicksilver’‚ culminating in the gaunt splendour of ‘Burnished Brass’. His work is incisive but wellmannered compared to the visceral impact of Khal Perr – Xenakis’s ‘walking dance’ through a phantasmagoria of brass and percussive timbres‚ shot through with the anarchic discipline that this composer made so indelibly his own. The Elizabethan inflections of Steve Martland’s Full Fathom Five are alive with his customary ricocheting hocket techniques and interplay of momentary dynamism and overall stasis. The programme throughout enjoys formidably assured playing‚ and a recording which has a remarkably focussed spatial ambience.
‘Baltic Brass’ is altogether easier listening. Few would recognise even the youthful voice of Sibelius in his Petite Suite‚ though the folklike manner of the central Andantino does prefigure the composer of some fine and underrated light music. Dating from 1899‚ Tiera is recognisably of the same provenance of such works as the Karelia Suite and Scènes historiques. Equally enjoyable‚ and crucial in terms of the brass quintet during the 19th century‚ are Victor Evald’s four works for the medium – the first three of which feature here. The Mussorgskian First Quintet feels like three complementary pieces rather than an integral design; the Second is more integrated‚ with a brooding theme and variations at its centre; while the fourmovement Third Quintet has a deft formal balance and melodic directness which oughtto appeal to anyone who enjoys the lighter works of Tchaikovsky or Grieg. The vivid though not overly analytical sound is appropriate for the music‚ and there are helpful background notes – as on the Linn release – by Trevor Herbert.
Brass players need to hear both these discs‚ while other listeners will opt for either depending on their musical preferences. But there’s no doubt that‚ taken together‚ they represent the alpha and (relative) omega of the brass quintet repertoire – one which in recent years The Wallace Collection has done so much to enrich.
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