ArkivMusic Pre-release for Canadian Brass CD
Canadian Brass, called “the world’s leading brass ensemble”
by the Washington Post, has recorded
a new CD of music for single, double, and triple brass choirs with organ,
called Echo – Glory of Gabrieli. Although the official release date is October 6, Canadian
Brass fans can purchase the disc in advance of the general public – along with
tickets to the popular ensemble’s holiday concerts in New York and Boston –
through a special September 11 pre-sale promotion with Ticketmaster and ArkivMusic,
The Source for Classical Music™ (www.arkivmusic.com). For details, visit Ticketmaster.com.
Echo –
Glory of Gabrieli is the third collaboration between Canadian Brass and
ArkivMusic, following Christmas
Traditionand Manhattan
Music.The ensemble brings its trademark virtuosity and
artistic passion to antiphonal brass music by Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio
Monteverdi, and Samuel Scheidt, composers of the late Renaissance and early
Baroque. The album’s title salutes
Gabrieli, who was organist at the famous Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice at the
turn of the 17th century, and one of the first to compose music
specifically for brass instruments and brass choirs. On Echo, Canadian
Brass makes these works sound as fresh and entertaining as when they were first
heard 400 years ago.
“As a former brass player,
I have always been in awe of Canadian Brass,”
confessed ArkivMusic President, Eric Feidner. “With this new Gabrieli CD, as with our previous
collaborations, we are indulging our passion for the glorious brass sound. We are thrilled to be working with this
ensemble again, and to be sharing some extraordinary and irresistible
music-making with the world.”
“Most
Gabrieli-era recordings are blast fests,” commented Canadian Brass founding
member Chuck Daellenbach on the making of Echo,
“fun to be part of, but not that wonderful to listen to, and certainly not
authentic. When we started this
project, I urged all participants, starting with the adapters/arrangers, to
exercise intelligent authenticity.
Simply stated, I wanted a result that took advantage of modern
instruments without sacrificing the musical intent of the composers. Consequently, we observed as best we
could the scholarship that abounds regarding this period, and combined it with
the advances in instrument quality, performer standards, and of course
state-of-the-art recording techniques.”
Now in its
40th season, Canadian Brass continues to be hailed for creating
irresistibly entertaining concerts and recordings for music lovers of all
stripes, backgrounds, and musical tastes, anchored by the ensemble’s technical
precision and polished tone.
Whether Canadian Brass is performing classical music, jazz, show tunes,
or contemporary music, the ensemble attracts legions of fans with its dazzling,
joyous music-making.
Echo –
Glory of Gabrieli is on the Canadian Brass’s own label, Opening Day
(ODR 7380). Available
exclusively in the U.S. through ArkivMusic, the official release date of
the CD is October 6. But from
September 11 the disc can be purchased as part of a special promotional bundle
from ArkivMusic and Ticketmaster, when customers buy tickets to Canadian
Brass’s holiday concerts at New York’s Town Hall on December 13 and Boston’s
Berklee Performance Center on December 20. Tickets for these concerts go on sale to the general public
on September 19. For information,
visit Ticketmaster.com.
Canadian Brass: December 2009 tour dates
Tuesday,
December 1, 2009 – Green Bay, WI
Tuesday,
December 8, 2009 – Pittsfield, MA
Wednesday,
December 9, 2009 – Englewood, NJ
Thursday,
December 10, 2009 – Shippensburg, PA
Friday,
December 11, 2009 – Charlottesville, VA
Saturday,
December 12, 2009 – Fairfax, VA
Sunday, December 13, 2009 – New York, NY (Town Hall)
Monday,
December 14, 2009 – Wilmington, DE
Tuesday,
December 15, 2009 – Burlington, VT
Friday,
December 18, 2009 – Lebanon, NH
Sunday, December 20, 2009
– Boston,
MA (Berklee Performance Center)
Tuesday,
December 22, 2009 – Toronto, ON
Wednesday,
December 23, 2009 – Toronto, ON
CD
information
Echo – Glory of Gabrieli
Label: Opening Day
(ODR 7380)
Canadian Brass; Echo Brass; Eric Robertson, organ
TRACK LISTING
1.
Echo (Scheidt, arr. Eric Robertson)
2.
Canzon septimi toni (Gabrieli, arr. Eric Robertson)
3.
Sonata pian e forte (Gabrieli, arr. Eric Robertson)
4-14.
Suite from L’Orfeo
(Monteverdi, arr. Brandon Ridenour)
15.
Canzon primi toni (Gabrieli, Eric Robertson)
16.
Canzona da sonar II (Gabrieli, John Serry)
17.
Canzon in double echo (Gabrieli, arr. Howard Cable)
18.
Canzona da sonar IV (Gabrieli, arr. Graeme Page)
19.
Canzon septimi e octavi toni (Gabrieli, arr. Howard Cable)
For more
information and to hear samples from Echo – Glory of Gabrieli, visit ArkivMusic.com.
About Canadian Brass
Now in its 40th year, Canadian Brass has
entertained millions of music lovers around the globe with recordings and
concerts. The members of the
internationally acclaimed ensemble have always followed their hearts,
performing and recording the music they love, regardless of its genre of
origin. Whether rooted in
classical, opera, jazz, or pop, the musicians tackle their chosen compositions
with a potent combination of enthusiasm and technical virtuosity. The current official lineup of Canadian
Brass comprises co-founder and tuba maestro Chuck Daellenbach, co-founder and
trombonist Gene Watts, French horn player Jeff Nelsen, and trumpeters Brandon
Ridenour and Christopher Coletti.
For more information, visit www.canadianbrass.com.
About ArkivMusic
ArkivMusic – The Source for Classical Music™ (www.arkivmusic.com) is an online retailer
of classical music focused on offering a vast selection of classical titles
through an intuitive interface and a decentralized distribution platform. Since opening its online store in
February 2002, ArkivMusic has built the largest selection of classical music
recordings in the U.S., with access to over 90,000 titles from over 1,500 labels
shipped from 20 distribution centers.
Formats include CD, DVD, SACD, DVD Audio, Blu-ray discs, and MP3
downloads (320 Kbps). In keeping
with its mission of preservation, promotion, and efficient distribution of
classical music, ArkivMusic’s innovative production-on-demand ArkivCD
program allows consumers to find and purchase out-of-print recordings alongside
the in-print catalog.
ArkivMusic
is a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc.
To request more information, interviews, airplay,
or review copies of Echo – Glory of
Gabrieli, contact:
Wende Persons, ArkivMusic: (718) 852-9865, [email protected]
Glenn
Petry, 21C Media Group: (212) 625-2038, [email protected]
Q & A with the top brass of Canadian Brass, Chuck Daellenbach
The tuba
player and co-founder of Canadian Brass talks about the ensemble’s new
recording, Echo – Glory of Gabrieli,
made in collaboration with ArkivMusic.
Q: Echo
– Glory of Gabrieli is your newest CD in an incredible discography of over
70 recordings that Canadian Brass has amassed over 40 years. What’s the appeal of Gabrieli for you?
Chuck: The concept of
recording Gabrieli is ever present amongst brass players – we trace our roots
to this composer, who is reputed to be the first to suggest instruments “per sonare”
as opposed to “toccare” [“per sonare” meaning “to be sounded”, which suggests
brass-style instruments, and “toccare” meaning “tap” or “pluck”, which suggests
strings]. In the CD notes, Joe
Szurly suggests that it was also a feature of expediency to use brass
instruments in Gabrieli’s church since one horn can produce the volume of sound
that several singers would.
Q: Gabrieli was an organist at the famous
Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, back at the turn of the 17th
century. How did your Toronto
location factor into the recording of this disc?
Chuck: We chose our
church and organ carefully for this project. The Christ Church Deer Park Church is resonant but not huge,
and the organ is a “period” organ (not old itself, but built in the old style),
authentic to the point of non-mechanized stops. The blend between the organ and brass is one that we are
very proud of.
It has not gone
unnoticed by us and our producers that most Gabrieli-era recordings are blast
fests: fun to be part of, but not that wonderful to listen to, and certainly
not authentic. When we started
this project, I urged all participants, starting with the adapters/arrangers,
to exercise intelligent authenticity.
Simply stated, I wanted a result that took advantage of modern
instruments without sacrificing the musical intent of the composers. Consequently, we observed as best we
could the scholarship that abounds regarding this period, and combined it with
advances in instrument quality, performer standards, and, of course,
state-of-the-art recording techniques.
Q: The three composers on the disc
were, through their music, bridges from the Renaissance to the Baroque
periods. Yet today, 400 years
later, their music still sounds so fresh and appealing!
Chuck: It
is my opinion that if Gabrieli, Scheidt, and Monteverdi – the most celebrated
composers of their time – were transported to our day, they would be film,
television, and recording writers of the first rank. They excelled in the entertainment field around them. Fortunately for people of any faith,
the church represented the best opportunity for skilled, creative writers to
ply their craft. Today this has
given us, as followers of classical music, untold volumes of wonderful music to
study and perform.
Q: What can you tell us about the
musical selections on the recording?
Chuck: What
I have tried to represent in the selection of titles for this CD are the many
facets of late Renaissance, early Baroque music. Who can deny the sense of amusement in the Scheidt “Echo”
piece? This is a great composer
having a private delight in the concept of a simple echo, ricocheting off the
church walls.
Gabrieli on the other
hand is employing the obvious (to us now) effect of placing instrumentalists in
the various locations of the cross in his church. All of Gabrieli’s music includes a figured bass part, giving
us the idea that he apparently always left himself, as an organist, the option
of playing along. Or perhaps he
was giving the brass players the option of playing along with him! Either way, it gives us a lot of
latitude to employ the organ as an integral part of our scores.
Q: Who were your collaborators? How did you produce all those
ricocheting echoes?
Chuck: Canadian
Brass is fortunate to have a large pool of world-class performers to bring
together for a project such as this.
The echo works of course needed more than just the five core members of
the Brass, so we added several players that are part of our “dream team” of
performers. Manon Lafrance and Joe
Burgstaller are part of the trumpet dream team, often performing with Canadian
Brass on stage. Meanwhile Austin
Hitchcock (a close relative of Alfred’s!) and Zackary Bond (who may be related
to James…) have been part of our Music Academy of the West summer program.
Organist and arranger
Eric Robertson is a well-known figure in the international music scene, having
produced dozens of recording projects and soloed in one of the most successful
TV-campaign piano collections ever, besides serving as music director and
organist at Christ Church Deer Park in Toronto. He is also featured on our Christmas Tradition CD, which we recorded in collaboration with
ArkivMusic two years ago.
Echo – Glory of Gabrieli, the newest CD from Canadian Brass, will be released
on October 6, but it is available beginning September 11 through a special
pre-release ticket and CD promotion with ArkivMusic and Ticketmaster, in
conjunction with the popular ensemble’s holiday concerts in New York (Dec 13)
and Boston (Dec 20). For more
information, visit Ticketmaster.com
# # #
© 21C Media Group, September 2009