| Review by sacd_fan_2007 August 17, 2008 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (S): |
This is the first major American brass quintet to publish in the SACD format as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, it came out in 2004, and others have not followed. So this disc is a rare opportunity for SACD collectors who are fans of the Brass Quintet.
Like all Center City Brass Quintet recordings, the extremely difficult passages are played effortlessly with passion, and the usual dynamics scaling in the trumpets is present. That is, the trumpets play mp as mf, f as ff, and so on .. This causes balance problems with the french horn and low brass here and in all other Center City Brass recordings. Hopefully some day, Chandos will learn to fix this issue in the mix.
The Felix Mendelssohn arrangement contains some extremely difficult and tiring passages for the two trumpets, which Anthony DiLorenzo and Geoffrey Hardcastle handle with ease. The problem is, the arranger, Verne Reynolds, wrote boring parts for the french horn and low brass. Therefore, this arrangement may discourage those hoping to hear the other voices shine.
The low brass and french horn do get a chance to shine in the more balanced Ewald and Bohme pieces. The Oskar Bohme Sextet is a masterpiece for brass, and the parts are wonderful for every voice in the ensemble. The Bohme performance is great, but I still prefer the earlier rbcd rendition by the Asbury Brass (on Albany Records).
Overall, fans of the brass quintet should be happy that this leading brass ensemble published in SACD, and I recommend it with some reservations about ensemble balance due to dominant trumpets (and Chandos engineers not handling it in the mix).
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