The Canadian Brass are, forty years after their founding, probably the most famous brass ensemble of our time. From their explorations of music that range from light-hearted jaunts into ragtime and to an arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations for brass quintet to their greatly beloved Christmas albums, this quintet has always had precision and panache to spare, even as their lineup has changed over decades. (The current roster includes co-founder Chuck Daellenbach on tuba, co-founder and trombonist Gene Watts, French horn player Jeff Nelsen, and trumpeters Brandon Ridenour and Christopher Coletti.)
The centerpiece of their latest recording, Echo: Glory of Gabrieli, is the stellar antiphonal music created by Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612) in Venice, a city that in the 17th century was absolutely a beehive of musical activity. The organist at the famed Basilica di San Marco, Gabrieli (who was the nephew and most likely protege of his famed uncle, Andrea Gabrieli (c. 1532-1585), who had also served the resident composer and organist at St. Mark's), wrote music for brass and brass choirs that made splendid use of that magnficent church, whose architectural glories posed unique challenges for its musicians. Rather than fight the echoes and delays between musicians in the choir lofts, Gabrieli placed choirs of brass players--not voices--above congregants' heads. (Using brass instruments rather than vocalists was also a deft practical and financial move: brass instruments are much louder than even a group of singers can be, so Gabrieli needed fewer players to squeeze into those small loft spaces.) Moreover, rather than having these separated choirs try to play the same music simultaneously, Gabrieli composed in antiphonal style; that is, each group of musicians would play successive, and often contrasting phrases of music in a call-and-response manner. Dubbed "cori spezzati"--"separated choirs"--this style became extremely popular, and Gabrieli's innovation influenced generations of musicians at St. Mark's.
Although this recording is titled "The Glory of Gabrieli," the work of another great Italian composer, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), is amply represented here in a suite arrangement for brass from Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo, which was one of the earliest operas ever written and by far the most influential piece in that nascent genre. For this album, the group invited in some friends: trumpeters Manon LeFrance and Joe Burgstaller, horn player Austin Hitchcock, and organist and arranger Eric Robertson; the additional brass players, plus the members of Canadian Brass, split their tasks between two groups of four, and the back-and-forth is amazing. Additionally, there is a short piece by the German composer and organist Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), whose own work was undoubtedly influenced by the ripples felt emanating from Venice, the "Queen of the Adriatic."
It must be mentioned that the sonics on this Canadian Brass recording (on their own label, Opening Day) are nothing short of spectacular, and warrant special attention to any audiophile. Between the extraordinarily fine engineering and the exquisite technique and musicianship of these players, this recording is simply a must-have.
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by Anastasia Tsioulcas
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