The five-piece brass group Passion des Cuivres was founded in 2003 and Orfeo's Victorian Christmas for Brass appears to be its maiden voyage on disc. The group favors the conical bore brass instruments common to the nineteenth century and at least in the CD photo also wear the top hats and bonnets of the era. The group is joined by an ophicliede played by Erhard Schwartz, who indeed demonstrates that he knows how to handle that thing, once referred to as a "chromatic bullock" by George Bernard Shaw. The personnel of ...
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The five-piece brass group Passion des Cuivres was founded in 2003 and Orfeo's Victorian Christmas for Brass appears to be its maiden voyage on disc. The group favors the conical bore brass instruments common to the nineteenth century and at least in the CD photo also wear the top hats and bonnets of the era. The group is joined by an ophicliede played by Erhard Schwartz, who indeed demonstrates that he knows how to handle that thing, once referred to as a "chromatic bullock" by George Bernard Shaw. The personnel of Victorian Christmas for Brass is rounded out by soprano Constanze Backes, who gets equal billing with Passion des Cuivres on the back cover of Victorian Christmas for Brass. You'll find it harder to locate her in the actual recording, as she only appears on a couple of tracks.Made up from players from Germany and the U.K., Passion des Cuivres maintains a nice, well-rounded tone as a group and stays in excellent tune throughout; it never rises up much of a pitch of excitement, but in this...
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