The Long Island, NY-based Alto label has picked up for reissue a number of unusual releases that have fallen through the cracks of the fast-changing classical recording industry. This disc, originally British, was recorded for the Collins label in 1991 and 2000 under the title Cathedral Brass. That was a somewhat better description of the contents than the present Sacred Brass, but the music is neither all sacred nor even all particularly well suited to a cathedral. One can somewhat sympathize with the marketers, for the ...
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The Long Island, NY-based Alto label has picked up for reissue a number of unusual releases that have fallen through the cracks of the fast-changing classical recording industry. This disc, originally British, was recorded for the Collins label in 1991 and 2000 under the title Cathedral Brass. That was a somewhat better description of the contents than the present Sacred Brass, but the music is neither all sacred nor even all particularly well suited to a cathedral. One can somewhat sympathize with the marketers, for the appeal of the program lies exactly in the variety of the music and in the unlikeliness of some of the transcriptions. The Toccata and fugue in D minor, BWV 565, of Bach is somewhat unlikely, although the arrangement by London Symphony Brass leader Eric Crees succeeds in making the brasses sound very organ-like, and organ music and music for wind instruments were thought during the Baroque to have an affinity. The program moves on to a group of canzonas and sonatas by Giovanni Gabrieli,...
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