Brass quintet sounds off
The members of the American Brass Quintet have been called “the high priests of brass” and “positively breathtaking,” by leading critics of music.
On Tuesday, this brass ensemble came to Utah State University.
“Coming to a place not just to play a concert, but to be around the students and to get to know the people in the department and share ideas is a great pleasure for us,” said Raymond Mase, trumpet player for the quintet.
According to their website, www.americanbrassquintet.org, the goal of the American Brass Quintet is to expand awareness and appreciation of brass band and chamber music around the world. Tuesday’s program fulfilled that goal through its wide variety of brass music.
The first musical piece, “Elizabethan Ayres,” is a traditional English piece. It portrayed the style of music that was around in the sixteenth century.
The second piece, by contrast, was a contemporary example of brass music, composed in 2003. Called “Little Suite of Miniatures,” it was written especially for the American Brass Quintet.
Their third number, “Brass Quintet,” was unique in that it was written not only in the musical language of notes and measures, but also in English. The composer wrote descriptions of how a certain section of music should be played. The movements did not have titles, but rather descriptions like “Ethereal, disembodied,” and “Alternately stately and lilting; frantic.”
Keeping with the mission of education and variety, the members of the quintet extensively researched the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band, who were a part of the military force of the south. Detailed diaries of the band members gave insight into the music played during that time.
“With those diaries, we were not only able to piece together what was going on during the civill war, but … also put a whole different spin on these pieces of music,” said Mase.
Concluding the performance was a piece by composer Eric Ewazen, who had spent some time in Colchester, England for a music festival. The titles of the movements in this piece were names like “The Rose and Crown,” “The Dragoon,” and “The Red Lion.”
“When we rehearsed this piece, we thought maybe we should play with an attitude of jousting tournaments and princesses in castles,” said trombonist John Rojak, “but then Eric told us that yes, we could do that, but he had gotten the names of the movements from pubs he had been to while in England.”
More than 1400 people attended the performance of the American Brass Quintet and were able to experience the less-common side of chamber music.
“I thought it was a really good change from everything I’ve been to lately,” said freshman Andrea Severson, a major in fisheries and aquatic sciences. “I really like the Elizabethan Ayres, because they reminded me of my days in a cappella.”
-maripark@cc.usu.edu
The American Brass Quintet, take a bow after performing for USU students in the Kent Concert Hall Tuesday night. (Photo by Jamie Crane)