<< Front page Arts April 23, 2004

Brass quintet plays with true brilliance
Artist Recital Series continues run of successes

Walking by Finney Chapel on Tuesday night, one might have a heard a chord so brilliant that it resembled an emission from Finney’s amazing Fisk organ. This was the sound of the American Brass Quintet, which gave a dazzling performance last week as part of the Artist Recital Series. Their program was diverse and displayed each and every thing that there is to love
about brass.

The concert opened with 17th Century Dances, in which ABQ saluted traditional quintet music. However, within ten minutes they had pushed their way from the late 1500’s to the twentieth century, performing Osvaldo Lacerda’s Fantasia e Rondo of 1977. Episodic and evocative, Fantasia was convincingly executed. The dialogue between the members of the quintet, Raymond Mase and Kevin Cobb on trumpet, David Wakefield on horn, Michael Powell on trombone and John D. Rojak on bass trombone, was impressive amongst the evertransitioning moods of
the work.

The third work on the program was perhaps slightly more impressive as it was preceded by claims that it was an integral piece in ABQ’s repetoire and came well equipped with a heartfelt tale of its inspiration. David Sampson wrote Morning Music as a sequel to a piece he composed in remembrance of his brother, who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and a group of American Nazis. The piece, which Sampson dedicated to his mother for her “optimism and resiliency,” is indeed both optimistic and resilient. ABQ seemed to relate wholeheartedly to the sentiments of Morning Music, and their keen rhythmic accuracy and enviable intonation was only paralleled by their ability to lyricize Shostakovich string quartet harmonies and convincingly portray a truly emotional and communicative work.

Part two of the performance included a whole lot of brass, a whole lot of cadences, and a whole lot of testosterone. In collaboration with members of the Cleveland Orchestra Brass Section, the Oberlin Conservatory Brass Faculty and Oberlin Conservatory musicians Ross Karre and Christopher Burns, ABQ performed the essential Gabrieli Canzone and a piece by Eric Ewazen, Symphony in Brass. Ewazen’s symphony was definitely “in brass,” although the sound produced by the fifteen musicians often fooled the ear into hearing a full wind ensemble. Over the course of its three movements, one was tempted to produce a list of movie soundtracks by which the piece could have been inspired. (which, sadly, could have included such “masterpieces” as Homeward Bound and Black Beauty). The musicians, however, didn’t seem the least bit fazed by any potential corniness. It was performed no less seriously than a string quartet would perform Bartok’s second, and the musicians seemed to be having the time of their lives, which is always refreshing.

In fact, many aspects of this Artist Recital Series concert were entirely refreshing. As interludes (or “time to rest their chops,” according to one attending brass player), members of ABQ would explain the significance of the next work on their program and occasionally interact with the audience. Bass trombonist John D. Rojak even excused a sneezing audience member with a friendly “gesundheit!” All in all, the American Brass Quintet put on an amazing, thoroughly enjoyable, and inspriring show for both the uneducated and the experienced ear.


 
 
   

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