English Brass Music of the 17th Century

John Adson (Artist), William Brade (Artist), William Byrd (Artist), Alfonso (ii) Ferrabosco (Artist), Henry Purcell (Artist), Thomas Simpson (Artist), Ludwig Guttler Brass Ensemble (Artist), Blechblaserensemble Ludwig Güttler (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 5, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capriccio
• ASIN: B000001WKX
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,462 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Work(s): Trumpet Tune and Air

2. Dovehouse Pavan, for 5 viols

3. Courtly Masquing Ayres (18) in 5 Parts: No. 6

4. Courtly Masquing Ayres (18) in 5 Parts: No. 9

5. Courtly Masquing Ayres (18) in 5 Parts: No. 10

6. Newe Ausserlesene Liebliche Branden for ensemble, collections: Die schöne Lylien

7. Newe Ausserlesene Liebliche Branden for ensemble, collections: Comoedianten Tanz

8. Newe Ausserlesene Liebliche Branden for ensemble, collections: Respons

9. Newe Ausserlesene Liebliche Branden for ensemble, collections: Courante (Robert Johnson)

10. Opus Newer Paduanen for ensemble: Intrada

11. Opus Newer Paduanen for ensemble: Ballet

12. Opus Newer Paduanen for ensemble: Almanda

13. Opus Newer Paduanen for ensemble: Ballet: La mia Salome

14. Opus Newer Paduanen for ensemble: Intrada

15. Opus Newer Paduanen for ensemble: Mascarada

16. Opus Newer Paduanen for ensemble: Ricercar

17. Courtly Masquing Ayres (18) in 5 Parts: No. 18

18. Courtly Masquing Ayres (18) in 5 Parts: No. 19

19. Courtly Masquing Ayres (18) in 5 Parts: No. 20

20. Newe Ausserlesene Liebliche Branden for ensemble, collections: Brand

See all 27 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is So Bad It's Almost Worth Hearing ..., February 3, 2012

By 

Giordano Bruno - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: English Brass Music of the 17th Century (Audio CD)

... as evidence of the necessity of performing 17th C music on 17th C instruments, and with a historically informed sense of style. I'm reviewing this brass-band travesty now because I've just finished reviewing a CD of William Brade's "Hamburger Ratsmusick" -- the same repertoire -- as performed by Hesperion XX, a few years before this recording was made. The comparison is there to be nmade for anyone who wants to do so.

What's so bad about this performance?
1) The tempi are dreadfully slow and un-dancelike; I've played some these pieces for professional dancers, and I can guarantee that they'd have my ears and tail for playing this sluggishly.
2) It's all the same -- the tempi, the timbres, the affect. Brade wrote especially for the English-style "broken consort" of mixed instruments of different timbres, and his attention to 'colors' and dynamic levels was critical to the fascination of his otherwise rather simple music.
3) The articulations are clunky, the ornaments are clunky, the whole effect of all that blaring is clunky.
4) The tuning is vague, being obviously based on 'equal temperament' when the instruments of Brade's time were universally tempered "quarter-comma mean tone", which gave them crunchier suspensions and more reposeful cadences.
5) But mostly, it's simply boring.

Brade: Hamburger Ratsmusik, consort music c 1600 /Hesperion XX * Savall