Customer Reviews

Bagpipes & Brass

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I JUST HAD TO HEAR MORE! That was my reaction when I first heard a selection from this CD on the local classical music station in Saint Louis. (Yes, we unfortunately only have one.) The selection I had heard was Amazing Grace in a makes-your-hair-tingle arrangement for BAGPIPES and BRASS BAND. With that limited information it took me a bit of searching to track down the actual CD even using Amazon's usually instant response search engine. (OK, so I never figured the CD would be simply titled BAGPIPES AND BRASS.) .... But it was worth the wait.

First, it turns out the recording is not just BAGPIPES and BRASS, but BAGPIPES, BRASS and ORGAN! Talk about sonics! Who would have thought that such a diverse grouping of musical instruments could ever combine to make such beautiful, stirring and mind boggling music. (All right, so they not that diverse since they are all basically wind driven instruments.)

Since the listing/description available for this CD is rather scant, let me fill in the missing details:

The CD features THE DENVER BRASS, THE COLORADO ISLE OF MULL SAINT ANDREW'S PIPES AND DRUMS, and JOHN KUZMA on the organ. (Details on the organ were not supplied in the progam notes, but I would presume it is installed in the Bethany Lutheran Church of Englewood, Colorado where the recording was done.)

The various selections were arranged/transposed by either organist Kuzma or Dr. Kenneth Singleton, the conductor and artistic director of the Denver Brass. And each one of them can stand on their own -- varied and totally fantastic!

The CD is on the KLAVIER label.

You're really going to have to trust me on this one, but it is the best single CD I have listened to this year. (I've played it five times and everyone who hears it thinks it fantastic, too.)
I hope you're able to hear it and enjoy it, too.

Reviewer: Tony Owens from Northglenn, CO USA
Will be brief, but heartfelt! If there be but one drop of Scottish blood running through your veins, you will want this CD in your collection! The mix of the brass and the bagpipes is very stirring and both the Denver Brass and the Isle of Mull Pipe Band are up to the challenge! I dare anyone to listen to "Hector, The Hero" and not think back to the Highlands of Scotland and the call of pipes. This is my first review and have been buying from Amazon for years . . . but this was the first CD I ever had that prompted me to tell people to add this to their collection.

I am not saying the music is bad or the quality is lacking, because it is not. If you are looking for traditional music played in the traditional way, then this CD is not for you. It is like listening to everyone's interpretation when they sing the "Star Spangled Banner". There is no need to jazz things up that were not written to be. The titles are old but the variations on the score have a lot to be desired if you wanted to hear these songs played the way they were meant to be played.

Reviewers who write that these are fine musicians playing lousy arrangements are correct. That's it exactly. The slower cuts are better than the up-tempo ones. Apparently this CD is a big hit with bagpipe tooters. So be it. The rest of us should pass it by or purchase it used.

I bought this album based on the rave reports of the other reviewers, and could NOT be more pleased with the result. Although not Scottish, I am a long-time bagpipe lover, and this album evokes visions of the Black Watch and other highland pipers moving through their intricate paces. The music is an aural feast, and the sound quality is excellent. I keep it in the CD player in the car and find that a quick drive or a long commute both become pleasures when I'm listening to it. Take my advice - if you have even a slight interest in pipes, drums or brass, you're going to love this album. (This is the first time I have ever written a review; it's a very compelling album!)

This album is a perfect example of how a bad arrangement can ruin great music despite the best efforts of great musicians. Everything about this recording is right; selection, performers, sound engineering. Except that the tracks are horribly over-arranged with all sorts of distracting, subtracting variations and trite bridging passages.

It's said that music soothes the savage beast, but bagpipes will do just the opposite. They will make the hair on your neck stand on end, your blood pressure go through the roof and prepare you to go to war. This album does neither.

The one piece which should most strongly produce the desired result is Scotland the Brave. In this album it is three minutes and twenty seven seconds, the first minute an ten of which are dedicated to fanfare. After that an orchestra plays some stylized version and, I think, I can detect a hint of bagpipes in there somewhere. When one has heard it done "correctly", one can recognize this as a total disaster.

Amazing Grace by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards has a version that is just about right. (And that selection gives one the ability to listen to a sample. I can see why this one doesn't!)

I gave this CD to my Dad for his birthday. My memory of Saturday mornings with him was waking up to hearing records of the Band of the Grenadier Guards. I thought my mum, more of an orchestra person, would hate it. Only to find they have been playing it endlessly in the car, and delighted with all the new arrangements.