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The
Bay
Brass
Harmonia Mundi - HMU 807556 (63'
DSD)
Williams
Sound the Bells, Fanfare for a
Festive Occasion, Aloft...To the
Royal Masthead Puts Elegy
for Brass Tilson-Thomas
Street Song Hiltzik
Spirals Lauridsen Fanfare
for Brass Sextet, O Magnum
Mysterium Broughton
Fanfares, Marches, Hymns,
Finale
A
worthy project is finally
realized with gleaming
magnificence
aplenty!
Featuring
some of northern California's
finest brass players and friends,
drawn primarily from the San
Francisco Symphony and the San
Francisco Ballet and San
Francisco Opera orchestras, and
with Michael Tilson Thomas
conducting his own piece, this
Harmonia Mundi SACD release is a
brilliant showcase for the
thrilling beauty of tonal brass
music in the new century, and the
splendid virtuosity of the Bay
Brass.
The
musical results and the
imaginative repertoire will sound
indescribably delicious to brass
players, especially in the Bay
Brass's brass choir
configuration: Morten Lauridsen's
popular 0 Magnum Mysterium
(more than 50 recordings in many
different adaptations and
arrangements), three John
Williams world-premiere
recordings (of which
Aloft...To the Royal
Masthead, commemorating the
quincentenary of Columbus's
voyage to the New World, is the
most notable) and Michael Tilson
Thomas's endearing Street
Song in the version MTT made
for full brass
ensemble.
Beyond
these more or less well known
pieces, Bruce Broughton's
high-flying 18 minutes of
Fanfares, Marches, Hymns,
Finale is the spectacular
tour de force it was
commissioned to be, while shorter
pieces by Kevin Puts (a heartfelt
elegy) and Scott Hiltzik (a
striking series of momentum
building figures and energy) and
a new fanfare from Lauridsen, all
written for Bay Brass, capture
not only the ear but the
heart.
The
recordings were made in sessions
held at Skywalker Sound in 2004,
2007 and 2009, and as good as the
conventional stereo sound is,
with its impressive space,
dynamic range and brass
detailing, everything opens up
substantially in the
surround-sound mode to produce
the kind of audiophile effect
that is as natural as it is
stunning. Book notes by the
composers complete a landmark
project which bears the
dedication to "our spouses and
supporters who have patiently
waited for this project to be
completed."
Laurence
Vittes
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