The Canadian Brass are in their 37th season. I think they are one of the world's best music ensemble; playing Classical, Jazz and more. They're often imitated by other groups but never duplicated. No doubt they're my favourite music group. The Canadian Brass is the first chamber ensemble to tour the People's Republic of China back in 1977. The group is known for their humour and involvement with the crowd while performing.
"Since their first appearance on the musical scene in 1970, The Canadian Brass has revolutionized brass music and established the brass quintet as a vital force in the musical world today. Over the years, these classically trained musicians have transformed a group of neglected instruments with a limited repertoire into an exciting and versatile vehicle. With an unbeatable blend of virtuosity, spontaneity and their engaging manner, the Canadian Brass plays to sold-out houses all over the world. Although they have certainly paved the way for many other brass groups, they clearly remain in a class by themselves." (Washington Post)
I first saw the group play on TV, featured on CBC's "Adrienne Clarkson Presents..." in 1992. The first concert I attended was their annual Christmas show (1998) at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. It was great! That night they performed with the Elmer Iseler Singers. On the 4th & 5th of May 1999, the group came to play Montreal. Both of the concerts were great, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal backed them up.
May 5th, 1999.
Music ReviewCanadian Brass drives audience wild
Ilse Zadrozny
Special to the GazetteAppropriately, the Montreal Symphony's Air Canada concert last night for once featured Canada in a big way. In the first half it was music from and about Canada. With maestro Charles Dutoit on the podium, the orchestra played Britten's Canadian Carnival (frosty with howling winds, a sleepy lullaby and Alouette), Revival Meeting and Finale from Louis Applebaum's ballet Barbara Allen (starkly rhythmic a la Rite of Spring), and Jean Coulthard's Song to the Sea (seaman's songs with different moods).
After that, the Canadian Brass, endeared themselves to the Salle Wilfrid Pelletier audience through their music, witty commentaries and gags. But they did not have the stage all to themselves. Dutoit kept to the podium as the MSO accompanied the five soloists in Bach's Little G-minor Fugue (perhaps rather unnecessarily so).
For excerpts from Wagner's Lohengrin, the Canadians were joined by the MSO brass players in as exciting a brass ensemble as you are likely to hear.
Less apt were the lush orchestral sonorities that turned the medley of Ellington tunes into un-jazz-like pops- though seemed less out of place in the High Society march and the Beale Street Blues.
Surprising to say, Dutoit appeared entirely at home in this type of music and evidently enjoying himself. Needless to say, the Canadian Brass up front made by far the most prominent sounds and drove people wild. There were whistles and screams of delight mixed in with the thundering applause, which was clearly directed most and foremost at these soloists. They gave two encores. Even then, the concert concluded five minutes under the customary two hours. But I'm sure the audience did not feel the least short-changed.
---Washington Post
---Ovation
April 4th, 2001.
Classical Music ReviewCool Canadiana
Fun evening with Lacombe and Brass
Arthur Kaptainis
Gazette Music CriticThe lighter Air Canada Series took an interesting detour last night in Place des Arts, as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra presented the Canadian Brass in a program dedicated in part to domestic repertoire. Thus the orchestra fulfilled the double (and not necessarily contradictory) imperatives of duty and entertainment.
Jacques Lacombe, in his first appearance before the MSO since 1998, began with four pieces of accessible Canadiana, including two by living composers who were present to take their bows. Godfrey Ridout (1918-1984) knew how to put the English back in Canada and produced a classic in Fall Fair, a frisky overture with a warm middle tune that does not hide its Elgarian inspiration.
Next came Kaleidoscope, the first and most enduring hit of Montreal's Pierre Mercure (1927-1966). The Stravinskian pulses, vibrant colours and memorable thematic cells of this little Rite of Spring are perfectly suited to the MSO. What a fine thing it would be to take on tour.
Lothar Klein's unhappily titled Musique � Go-Go (A Symphonic Melee) placed an impressionistic middle section between brash, jazzy bookends; while Robert Turner's Opening Night attempted (successfully, if at undue length) to harness the electricity of the popular theatre without actually resorting to show tunes. Something a little less boisterous would have given the first half more depth. Still, Lacombe made crisp work of all the music.
He was pushed into a supporting role after the intermission as the Canadian Brass, starting in the aisle, took to the stage. This high-spirited quintet has spent 30 years trying to balance showmanship with musicality. Last night the blend was close to ideal. Two young trumpeters have added both flash and class to the ensemble. Ryan Anthony played with big-city charisma in a Duke Ellington sequence. Jens Lindemann's brilliant work on the piccolo trumpet in Penny Lane (Lennon and McCartney) represented the virtuoso height of the evening.
There was plenty of easygoing humour, of course, supplied by veteran trombonist Eugene Watts and tuba player Charles Daellenbach in all-English commentary. (Could ex-McGill grad and ex-MSO hornist Jeff Nelsen not have been conscripted to mutter a few words in French?) It all came to a spectacular conclusion with a complex Sousa medley incorporating 10 brass players from the MSO.
The group is made up of 5 outstanding brass musicians:
The current members who co-founded The Canadian Brass are Eugene Watts and Charles Daellenbach.
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Features the finest French horn recordings in CB.Indeed magical! Also features perhaps the best piccolo trumpet CB recording: Concerto in G major BVW973.
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The Brass plays the hits of the Beatles. The best piccolo solo of any Penny Lane recording is found here.
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Pictures of the group members alone, background logo and CD cover photos are property of The Canadian Brass.