Ben's Brass Blog

In class on Monday, we listened to a selection of brass ensemble literature that was written by underrepresented composers.  These works were all intriguing in their own way.  I will discuss these performances and then showcase some more music by these composers.  For more information about these composers, feel free to check out Mr. John Manning's blog post about this subject here . Tania Le ón Saoko Originally written in 1997, Saoko was written for brass quintet.  Saoko's technical definition is difficult to come across but it is often used as slang to describe a great Salsa song.  Being from Cuba, I think Tania León does a fantastic job of infusing this still of Salsa into a classical brass quintet.  I thoroughly enjoyed how active and rhythmic this piece was.  The rhythmic drive from the bass line maintains the forward momentum of the piece.  Viewing this rhythm in the score was a bit of a mind-twister.  Thankfully, the rhythm is very grove-based and seems like once you p

  Eric Whitacre's Glow for Horn Choir As a trombonist, I love to hear trombone.  However, if there is one instrument's sound that I love as much trombone, it would be horn.  I have always had such a strong affiliation with the horn sound and wanted to feature some horn literature on the blog.  Originally written for SATB choir, Eric Whitacre's Glow was written for the World of Color Honor Choir as a part of the World of Color.  A link to the vocal recording can be found here . The original text for the song is: "Softly falls the winter snow, whispers to the sleeping world below: "Wintertide awakes," morning breaks and the sets the death aglow. In gentle tones of warmest white, Proclaim the glory of Auroroa’s light. Sparrow wings in a clear clean voice, a sweet, silver carol for the season born. Radiant wings as the skies rejoice, Arise and illuminate the morn. Softly falls the winter snow, whispers to the sleeping world below: "Glow, like the softly fall

 As a trombonist, it is very easy to be too focused in my musical listening.  There are many trombonists and small ensembles that are worth listening to.  As a result, I know that I sometimes avoid large ensembles of other instruments.   For this week, I wanted to remedy that issue by listening to the New York Trumpet Ensemble.   Here is a description of the ensemble from Summit Records: "The New York Trumpet Ensemble was formed and founded in 1974 by Gerard Schwarz in order to record the groundbreaking recording A Festival of Trumpets for NoneSuch records. It was the first recording of many newly discovered works for multiple trumpets by Heinrich Bieber, Samuel Scheidt, Giovanni Gabrieli and other baroque era composers. During the 1980’s, The New York Trumpet Ensemble produced a number of baroque trumpet recordings and performed with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Madeira Bach Festival and the Vermont Mozart Festival. In the 1990’s, Mark Gould assumed the

  In searching for some South American brass ensembles, I came across the group known as La Patrona.  The group is a brass band from Lima, Peru which " is rooted in the tradition of 'fiestas populares,' town fairs common in Latin American villages, which combine fireworks, dancing, music, and religious images" ( https://artscenterlive.org/performance/la-patronal-peruvian-dance-workshop/). The group is made up of two trumpets, two saxophones, a trombone, a sousaphone, congas, and drums.  The group's continued presence has allowed them to both preserve and advance their cultural history.  Generally, the group performs at local town fairs which create a lively atmosphere through fireworks and dancing. Mnozil Brass is a group of Austrian brass players who have become well known for their performative works such as this one.  The group was originally founded by a group of students at the Vienna College of Music in 1992.  The group has established itself as a premier br