October 29, 2015

  • Refreshed Gabrieli and Music from John Williams

     

    G. Gabrieli: Selections from the Sacrae Symphoniae; Williams: Music for Brass
    National Brass Ensemble/Gail Williams, Joseph Alessi, Michael Mulcahy,
    Yasuhito Sugiyama, James Somerville, Michael Sachs,
    Oberlin Music OC 15-04
    Total Time:  68:29
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    For many brass players, a classic 1968 album of music from Giovanni Gabrieli’s (ca. 1555-1612) Symphoniae inspired them to consider becoming musicians.  These late-Renaissaince/early-Baroque acoustically amazing pieces are full of polychoral writing for brass and lots of call and echo effects in pieces that perhaps are really motets or anthems without words.  Usually as the year winds down, labels like to populate the shelves with brass music and among them Gabrieli’s work often figures prominently.  A couple years ago, we looked at a Pentatone release of his music and there is more detail there about his work.

    The present release hearkens back though to that late 1960s one that featured brass players from three of America’s premiere orchestras (Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia).  The National Brass Ensemble has gone a few steps further by inviting 26 musicians from the top nine orchestras to come together to make this recording which was conceived back in 2011 at a Brass Symposium.  Rather than simply reuse existing arrangements of Gabrieli’s work, the group chose Tim Higgins, principal trombone with the San Francisco Symphony, to prepare the music.  Higgins returned to the original sources in out-of-print scores in their original notation thus creating in a sense “world premieres” of these pieces in essence to honor that Columbia release, The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli.

    The results here are simply marvelous.  Full brass sound, in clearly delineated lines allows for the music to unfold as each piece unfolds.  The recording also allows for a fine balance that separates the “choirs” well without feeling overly gimmicky.  Nine canzons make up half of program with the sort of fanfare-like music one generally associates with Gabrieli.  But then there are some truly beautiful settings of pieces like “Buccinate in Neomemia”, “O Magnum Mysterium”, “Hic est Filius Dei”, a “Magnificat” (featuring some fascinating harmonic shifts in its final pages), “Sancta Maria”, and an “Exaudi me Domine”.  The result is an almost worshipful album of brass music that explores the different colors of these instruments beautifully.

    For many, the treat of hearing these pieces practically fresh and in such gorgeous performances will be enough.  However, as a bit of an “encore”, the group has recorded a piece specially written for them by film composer John Williams, Music for Brass (2014).  This is a really brief “encore”-like addition to the disc by a composer who has certainly provided many memorable brass fanfares and settings.  This one too adds timpani and percussion to the brass choir.  This one begins with a bit of nervous energy reminiscent of some of the lighter and big action styles of the composer and then moves into a brief dissonant patch before a more “modern” style often found in the concert works.  The virtuosic displays really help the ensemble shine here as the music moves through a few moods and with great rhythmic vitality.  It is a really exciting work that even manages to hint at the more familiar fanfares and other brass work one has found in Williams’ action scores.  That said, it is a true showpiece for the ensemble and it is pulled off superbly here!