Festmusik: A Legacy Brass SACD

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Festmusik: A Legacy

A recording project of music for brass, inspired by a family's hidden

collection of letters

premiere recordings (except track 1)

RICHARD STRAUSS

Festmusik der Stadt Wien, TrV 286 (1942-43) *

10:48

(Festive Music for the City of Vienna)

for Brass and Timpani

Der Gemeinde Wien gewidmet

Allegro moderato - A tempo (feierlich bewegt) -

Tempo I - Etwas ruhig - Lebhaft - Poco tranquillo -

ROBERT SCHUMANN

Impromptus über ein Thema von Clara Wieck, Op.5 (1833)

19:44

(Impromptus on a Theme by Clara Wieck)

in C major • in C-Dur • en ut majeur

for Solo Piano

First Version

Friedrich Wieck gewidmet

Arranged 2020 by Amos Miller and Tim Jackson

Un poco Adagio - Romanza -

1:37

[ ] -

0:32

Espressivo -

0:46

[ ] -

1:00

[ ] -

1:37

[ ] -

1:36

Presto -

1:06

[ ] -

0:54

10.

[ ] -

1:36

11.

[ ] -

1:10

12.

Allegro con brio -

2:41

13.

Vivace

5:05

JOHANNES BRAHMS

14.

Ich schwing' mein Horn ins Jammertal, Op.41 No.1 (1861-62)

2:22

( I blow my horn in the vale of sorrow)

in B flat major • in B-Dur • en si bémol majeur

from Fünf Lieder für vierstimmigen Männerchor

(Five Songs for Four-part Male Chorus)

Arranged 2020 by David Gordon-Shute

Andante (Alla breve)

FELIX MENDELSSOHN

15.

Die Frauen und die Sänger (1845)

3:30

(The Women and the Singers)

in B flat major • in B-Dur • en si bémol majeur

for Six-part Mixed Chorus

Arranged 2020 by David Gordon-Shute

Paul Lambert bass trombone

Allegro con grazia

ANTON RUBINSTEIN

16.

Nocturne, Op.71 No.1 (1867)

5:50

in A flat major • in As-Dur • en la bémol majeur

from Trois Morceaux

(Three Pieces)

for Solo Piano

Dédié à Mademoiselle Adèle de Danzas

Arranged 2020 by David Gordon-Shute

Andante

ROBERT FRANZ

17.

Frühlingsblick, Op.52 No.6 (1884)

2:27

(First Glimpse of Spring)

from Sechs Gesänge

(Six Songs)

for Voice and Piano

Arranged 2020 by Niall Keatley

Andantino con moto

RICHARD STRAUSS

Swei Gesänge, Op.34, TrV 182 (1897) *

22:00

(Two Songs)

for Sixteen-part Mixed Choir

Arranged 2020 by David Gordon-Shute and Matt Smith

18.

Der Abend (Evening). Meinem Freunde Julius Buth gewidment.

10:22

Sehr ruhig - Etwas lebhafter - Wieder ruhiger - Etwas beschleunigen -

Erstes Zeitmaß - Immer ruhiger

19.

Hymne (Hymn). Meinem Freunde Philipp Wolfrum gewidmet.

11:37

Bewegt - Erwas gemäßigteres Zeitmaß - Noch etwas ruhiger -

Etwas bewegter - Etwas breiter werdend - Etwas ruhiger -

Etwas lebhafter - Ruhig gehendes Zeitmaß

Total time: 66:36

Chamber: Onyx Brass

Niall Keatley trumpet

Alan Thomas trumpet

Andrew Sutton French horn

Amos Miller trombone

Daiv Gordon-Shute tuba

Conductor: John Wilson *

Winner of Band & Ensemble CD of the Year 2021

British Bandsman – December 2021

“…The program opens with a spectacular reading of Strauss’s Festmusik der Stadt Wien (1943), the Onyx players augmented by the Septura Brass… The lyrical passages are heartfelt, and each fanfare section is more thrilling than the previous… The program ends with Strauss’s remarkable Zwei Gesange (1897), originally for 16-part mixed choir. It would take a superb vocal ensemble to pull this difficult work off. These brass players handle its demands with ease.”

Barry Kilpatrick – American Record Guide – September/October 2021

Performance ***** Recording ****

“… The quintet arrangements are … ingenious in rendering the piano textures of Schumann’s inventive Impromptus on a theme of Clara Wieck, and of the Rubinstein Nocturne, thanks to Onyx’s deftness of articulation. Again, the Festal Music for the City of Vienna may not be top-drawer Strauss, but its sequence of fanfares and hymnodies are more cogent and less inflated than many of his ceremonial pieces, and performed here with crackling attack. And the playing in the arrangements of the Two Songs is extraordinary… in Chandos’s typically full recorded acoustic, the sheer glory of sonority in the climaxes of the more eventful Hymne is quite overwhelming.”

Bayan Northcott – BBC Music magazine – July 2021

“… John Wilson leads a vivid performance with attractive lyrical byways and a rousing conclusion … The recording made in the Church of St Augustine in Kilburn, captures all the performances with demonstration-quality levels of transparency, richness and presence.”

Christian Hoskins – Gramophone magazine – June 2021

“A rare, late outing into brass music by Richard Strauss partnered with an intriguing programme of arrangements on this imaginative new disc.” ****

Robert Hugill – PlanetHugill.com – 8 June 2021

“… this is a must have album for brass music enthusiasts and fans of chamber music alike.”

Graham Williams – HRAudio.net – 4 May 2021

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