Following their debut album, a tribute to Wayne Horvitz, this critically acclaimed NY-based brass quartet returns to their roots with compositions by each member, alongside songs by Ellington, Ives, and an English folk song arranged by Sam Amidon and Nico Muhly. They navigate the music with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family folk ensemble.
Product details
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer
:
No
Language
:
English
Product Dimensions
:
5.25 x 6 x 0.5 inches; 4.8 Ounces
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Surprising what sounds can come from such a small but super talented group. Almost every emotion I know was brought to the surface over the course of listening to this compilation. Delight, angst, joy, sadness, love, mournful, calm, wonder. Thanks gentlemen.... gentle men.
I heard these fine musicians play live on Lopez Island, where they recorded their first album. The three musicians from Seattle's Garfield High School (the fourth is from Roosevelt High) came to our island in 2008 for a concert with their award-winning high school jazz band, led by Clarence Acox. They must have liked our little island for they recorded here and named one of their 14 original compositions on this album "Lopez."
I echo what another reviewer said, that this is among the finest of "classical" chamber music available today. I am reminded of a finely-tuned string quartet when I hear and see these four gentleman breathe, think and executive their exquisite sounds with one mind. The CD begins with a hymn-like prayerful "A Nearer Sun" then enters the avant-garde with "So So Shy" and a humorous "New Berlin, New York" or a tricycle-inspired "Rue des Rosiers." The little-known Duke Ellington tune "Where's the Music?" answers its own question while "Saro" is another haunting transformation of traditional sounds into modern harmonies. You are going to be hearing a lot from this ground-breaking quartet.
Classical music has been in a terrible decline for the past one-hundred years. As the twentieth century progressed into the Atomic Age, composers (and conductors) believed that they had to be modern, and those who continued to rely on traditional musical values such as tonality, harmonic progression and rhythm were simply ignored. The public did not like this, and they voted with their feet. Go to a concert today, and the hall is half empty (or to be optimistic, half full), and the median age of the audience is about 115. (Counting only those who are yet breathing, this may be lower.)
Yet, when the sun comes out, some buds appear. In orchestral and piano music, there are a few composers, such as
Marjan Mozetich
, who have allowed emotion into their music, and there are yet composers writing rousing music for the concert band market.
The Westerlies are another sign of vitality.
It seems to me that what audiences disliked about modern classical music was not atonality or even dissonance, but the lack of rhythm. There is plenty of dissonance on this, the second album by The Westerlies, clustered harmony, trumpets playing deliberately (I'm certain) out of tune, but we don't mind, because there is rhythm and melody. They often rely on traditional jazz riffs and stylings, and some passages are improvised. They write their own music and perform live without reading from sheet music. Two trumpets, a trombone and a bass trombone, and they're all highly skilled.
I'm an aficionado of music for brass, because after all, the vibrating membrane is not some string, nor is it an oscillator in a circuit, but a part of the human body. But despite this, I didn't purchase the entire album, because I felt there wasn't enough variety on it. I liked the track
Ruddy Ducker
best, and it is the longest tune on the album, so it's a bargain.
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