Attention, men and women of brass, as well as all discerning music lovers who appreciate the supreme satisfaction in ultra-sophistication.
I know that all brass players are Kings of the Jungle, especially when they hunt in packs. But I trust that even the most proud and predatory among the species will be able to savour and appreciate the incredibly refined and subtle playing of the brass (and percussion) section of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, in this truly extraordinary album. The repertoire, largely, is fantastic, with wonderfully effective arrangements of Shostakovich's Gadfly Suite and Astor Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires Suite, which features a fugue where the players' articulation is frankly staggering. There's also an extremely witty, four-minute, cartoon-like Concertgeblaas, written for the group by Detlev Glanert, one of the orchestra's house composers, lots of fanfare pieces by Henri Tomasi and, with the strings joining the brass and conductor Kurt Masur directing, a rare outing for Paul Hindemith's Konzertmusik. Some breathtaking stuff here.
Michael Tumelty
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article