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Site review by Geohominid December 4, 2007
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Performance: Sonics (S/MC): / |
What might you expect from a disc with the title 'Brass 5.1'? That the recording had a sub-woofer channel and/or was recorded in full surround, with the brass players around your room? Well, you would be wrong on both counts. What the publicists meant to say was 5+1, as several of the pieces played by the Mannheim Brass quintet employ a guest soloist.
Stifling my disappointment at a lack of true surround sound, I went on to enjoy this showcase of brass music from nearly a century of musical history. The Mannheim Brass are a well-established group in Germany, and from their photos in the sleeve notes, they look like a jolly lot, as brass players (allegedly) are wont to be. Their instruments are two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba.
Solo trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich joins them for the first piece by contemporary Icelandic composer Áskell Másson. Entitled 'Shadows', the composer shows the trumpet 'in an individual light, while the differing and manifold shadows flicker around it', and indeed one is put in mind of the Aurora Borealis lights casting their eerie glimmers over the stark Icelandic landscapes. The music is mainly dissonant and restless, although the trumpet is allowed some stream-of-conciousness melodies, and muses softly in the slow movement. An intriguing and virtuosic sound picture indeed.
The next group of tracks comes from a more familiar source. Three from Respighi's Airs and Ancient Dances for Lute Suites, re-transcribed for the brass quintet, make a noble and truly rich Renaissance sound. I loved the final Bergamasca dance, played wickedly tongue-in-cheek with pin-point rhythms. The dances are followed by a sextet from Oskar Böhme (1879 - 1938), a German who spent most of his career in Russia. His music is something of a find; it is tightly written, cheerful, melodic and scored idiomatically for the instruments, I noted some tinges of Russian melancholy, particularly in the lovely and songful slow movement. Soloist Reinhold, this time on cornet, again makes a great contribution.
The rest of the tracks are devoted to Swiss-born Daniel Schnyder (b. 1961). His quintet explores jazz and Latin-American styles, again with the dance to the fore. There are some staggeringly virtuosic passages for the instruments, using a variety of unusual techniques, in which the tuba enthusiastically partakes; I have never heard this instrument be so athletic without sounding ridiculous! The final three pieces are pure pleasure, three 'songs' in wonderfully funky and sleazy jazz, almost in Big Band style.
The 5.0 recording (presumably PCM) is immediate, with the instrumental tone qualities rendered very well, and the quintet placed just behind the speakers in a rather narrow group. There is little focus however, and the ensemble is a rather foggy mass around the centre; I could not pinpoint the precise position of each player, which should be easy with instruments having such bright overtones. The engineers have perhaps been successful in taming the brass into a chamber-like domestic situation, but brass instruments were developed primarily for playing outdoors and they are at their best with plenty of air around them, particularly when they let rip. There is little acoustic signature of the Kürnbach Music Academy and the rear speakers are rather muted (the stereo layer sounds almost identical to MC). I really would have liked some more air around the group, so that their climaxes could expand properly. Of course, I lament the missed opportunity of giving us a full stage mix; the sound of these brilliant musicians surrounding us would have added another thrilling dimension to the music. But that would have been another story!
Brass enthusiasts will love this, and any aspiring young brass player would gain immensely from hearing both the music and its expert execution.
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Copyright © 2007 John Miller and SA-CD.net
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