Transatlantic
Onyx Brass/John Wilson
Viv Mclean (piano, Octet)
rec. 2024, Fleming Hall, Royal College of Music, London
Chandos CHAN20399 [65]
In the past thirty years, Onyx Brass has become one of the premier brass quintets on the musical scene. On disc, they have covered a wide variety of music and arrangements, both as a quintet and with assisting instrumentalists. A favorite of mine was their 2018 disc (review ~ review) which I am sure filled many lacunae for some listeners. Here is a somewhat similar program, but with pieces from both sides of the Atlantic: a few old favorites added to several world premieres and new arrangements.
The four American pieces include Timothy Jackson’s charming arrangement of one of Gershwin’s piano Preludes, and John Adams’s China Gates which David Gordon Shute arranged for brass quintet. Adams also wrote for solo piano, but I found the piece more effective in this arrangement.
Since the rediscovery of Florence Price, there have been a number of her premieres on disc. Here we have the Octet for Brasses and Piano. Composer Bernard Hughes points out in his notes that the piece exemplifies Price’s ability to combine American modes of popular music with the classical procedures she learned in her studies with George Whitefield Chadwick. Indeed, I was reminded of Chadwick’s well-known Symphonic Sketches, where he does the same with popular music types of his own day.
Leonard Bernstein originally wrote the Dance Suite for the Empire Brass; it was the last piece he completed. Each of the five dances portrays a friend of Bernstein’s in the world of dance, and each characterization combines satire and affection in Bernstein’s best manner.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Onyx Brass musicians have not forgotten fanfares; they include four recording premieres. Benjamin Britten’s Funeral March seems to be a companion to the composer’s well-known Russian Funeral, but was never finished. In Bernard Hughes’s completion, it proves a worthy counterpart to that work. Many years later Britten wrote A Fanfare for June 30th 1970, scored for four trumpets, four trombones and two tubas. This piece was written for the retirement of Sir David Webster from Covent Garden. As Bernard Hughes points out, snatches of several of Sir David’s favorite operas can be heard in the Fanfare.
Another premiere is Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Flourish on the “Morris Call” arranged by Christopher Gordon. This commanding piece was written for the International Folk Dance Festival of 1935. The festival took place in the Albert Hall. The Flourish surely must have filled the entire space with its sounds.
Perhaps the most exotic piece here is William Walton’s Roaring Fanfare. He wrote it for the opening of the Lion Terraces at the London Zoo in 1976, and dedicated to his old friend Lord Solly Zuckerman. It incorporates Walton’s idea of a lion’s roar, and shows he had not lost his sense of humor in old age.
Two staples of the brass repertoire are included here. Malcolm Arnold’s Quintet for Brass No.1 had not been a favorite of mine, but Onyx Brass’s superlative performance enabled me to take a fresh look at this work. Joseph Horowitz’s delightful Music Hall Suite, also well-known, receives an equally fresh and animated performance. Finally, we have Gordon Langford’s Prelude, Polonaise and Promenade, which I greatly enjoyed.
As always, the playing of Onyx Brass is near perfect, and the same can be said for the recording. If only the disc had been recorded in SACD. I should also point out that the musicians who play with Onyx Brass here are fully up to their high standard, especially Viv McLean in Price’s Octet. This is no surprise as they are led by John Wilson, who usually joins Onyx Brass in its more extended productions. May we hope for another disc containing Arnold’s second Brass Quintet and those of Walton’s fanfares that remain unrecorded?
William Kreindler
Previous review: John France (July 2025)
Contents
Sir William Walton (1902-1983)
Roaring Fanfare (1976)
John Adams (b.1947)
China Gates (1977)
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Funeral March (1938, completed in 2022 by Bernard Hughes)
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Octet for brass and piano (1930)
Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)
Brass Quintet no.1, op.73 (1961)
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Novelette in Fourths (1919, arr. Timothy Jackson)
Benjamin Britten
A Fanfare for June 30th, 1970 (1970)
Gordon Langford (1930-2017)
Prelude, Polonaise and Promenade
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Flourish on the ‘Morris Call’ (1935, arr. Christopher Gordon)
Joseph Horovitz (1926-2022)
Music Hall Suite (1964)
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Dance Suite (1989-1990)
Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
