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Enrique Crespo (born 1941)
SUITE AMERICANA Nr. 1 for Brass Quintet (1977)
Enrique Crespo was born on October 17th, 1941 in Montevideo, Uruguay. There he studied archi-tecture and music and was the principal trombonist with the Montevideo Symphony Orchestra, as well as arranger, jazz-soloist and bandleader. In 1967 he went to Berlin on a scholarship to study at the College of Music. Completing his studies in composition and trombone, he received his music diploma in 1969. In the same year he began playing with the Bamberg Symphony as principal trombonist and in 1980 went to the Radio-Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart, again as principal trombonist. During this period he was very active composing and performing his works, intensively with the Bayerische Rundfunk (Bavarian Broadcasting) in Nürnberg. Also at this time, he established his private recording and film studio, which resulted in numerous record, film and TV productions. In the summer of 1974, for one of his productions including a concert tour along the west coast of France, he founded the Deutsche Blechbläserquintett (German Brass Quintet). The ensemble was made up of former college aquaintences, meanwhile all members in the top orchestras of Germany. Exactly ten years later, he doubled the quintet to a 'tentet', respectively to a 'double quintet', now called the German Brass, to be able to arrange Bach's music without any artistical compromises for the EMI production 'Bach 300'.
From the beginning Crespo devoted the same enthusiasm towards jazz and folk music, as he did regarding the so-called 'serious music'. His compositions reflect and benefit from the music with which he grew up, combining such various and divers styles. Due to his knowledge of the instruments, his pieces give the brass players new possibilities. Opposite from the classical compositions, which in general treat the brass instrument repertoire rather neglectfully, his works give the brass exciting opportunities to advance onto other playing dimensions.
With the composition American Suite No. 1 for Brass Quintet, written in 1977, Crespo presented five colourful musical impressions from North, South and Latin America. The brilliant utilization of the technical possibilities of all five instruments reveals the experienced skill of a performing musician.
All the movements of the suite comply in form, rhythm, melodical lines and harmony overwhelmingly with the original dances. Ragtime, for example, only distinguishes itself from the original pieces of this category with the purely fabricated melody and the significant treatment of the brass. The same applies to Vals Peruano, a dance originating from Europe, which acquired an alluring agility through syncopation during the course of this century in South America and evolved to one of Peru's most important folk dance contributions. The Bossa Nova, a Brasilian samba refined through the influence of jazz, notably contains the harmony and rhythmical structure of the standards, though its form is classically inspired, just as Zamba Gaucha, an extremely romantic South American cowboy song. Son de Mexico establishes a combination of two mexican dances; the slow segment is a 'Huapango' from the Gulf of Mexico, the vigorous and extremely artistic part conforms to a 'Son Jaliscience', a dance from the Jalico province in central Mexico, where the 'Mariachi music' with its dazzling trumpets derived.
Documentation: Enrique Crespo
Malcolm Arnold (born 1921)
QUINTET Nr. 1 (1961)
Who doesn't know the music to the film The Bridge over the River Kwai (1957)? As composer of the film music, Malcolm Arnold was awarded an Oscar. In addition to that he was designated the 'Master of the Quarter Hour Concerts', due to the short length of his works, and in conjunction with his 7th Symphony (1973) he was even labeled an 'English Shostakovich'.
Malcolm Arnold came into the world on October 21st, 1921 in Northhampton. Through the influence of his mother, his interest in music began very early, listening to both jazz and the classical style of music. The trumpet playing of Louis Armstrong had a significant effect on him. At the age of sixteen, Malcolm Arnold began to study at the Royal College of Music with Ernest Hall, the most famous trumpet teacher at the time. Within a short period, he advanced to a highly requested substitute trumpeter for the London orchestras and conclusively became the principal trumpeter with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He held this position from 1941 until 1948, interrupted only for one year by military service.
In 1948 he was granted the Mendelssohn scholarship, which enabled him to continue studying composition in Italy. The early success with film music determined conclusively Malcolm Arnold's resolution in continuing the direction as a composer and conductor. Though his roots lie in the classical style, he uses the entire range of musical expression, from dance suites inspired by traditional tunes, to compositions influenced by pop music or the jazz idiom, for example with his 6th symphony, a hommage to Charlie Parker. The education as a trumpeter made him aware of the limits, however from the beginning he demanded the utmost from the brass. In all seriousness he did not forget a wink of humour and a portion of irony. For Gerard Hoffnung's very famous concerts he wrote the Grand Ouverture for 3 Vacuum Cleaners, 1 Floor Polisher, 4 Rifles and Full Orchestra. The list of all the well-known artists who incited, comissioned and premiered Malcolm Arnold's compositions reads like a 'Who's Who' in music: Benny Goodman, Yehudi Menuhin, James Galway, Julian Bream, Michala Petri, Julian Lloyd Webber, just to mention a few.
Within the complete oeuvre of Malcolm Arnold there are two compositions for brass quintet, which were derived over 25 years apart from each other. Brass Quintet No. 2, with the noteworthy opus number 132, was comissioned by the Fine Arts Quintet and performed for the first time at the Cheltenham Festival in 1988.
Brass Quintet No. 1, which is presented here, was written in 1960/61 and soon became an essential part in the standard repertoire of original literature for brass quintet. This piece consists of three movements, the middle being a regal chaconne, framed by a vivid opening and finale, both requiring immense artistical abilities.
Documentation: Dr. Hans-Ulrich Michalik
Jan Koetsier (born 1911))
BRASS QUINTET for 2 Trumpets, French Horn, Trombone and Tuba (1974)
Though his heritage lies in the Netherlands, Jan Koetsier, born in 1911, has adapted completely to the German way of life (although he still speaks Dutch perfectly). He studied composition, piano and conducting between 1927 and 1934 in Berlin, experiencing there still the ingeniously excessive 'roaring twenties' and the abrupt change into the 'order' of the nazi regime. At first he had to struggle through typical beginner positions (i.e. a traveling opera company among others), though was able to advance his career, when the legendary Willem Mengelberg (who conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra for a total of 50 years from 1895 until 1945) asked him to come to Amsterdam in 1942 to be his assistant. In 1950 Koetsier accepted a position at the Bayerische Rundfunk (Bavarian Broadcasting), offered by Eugen Jochum, where he produced an enormous compilation of recordings of various styles and eras over the years, partly with the Bamberg Symphony. In his concerts Koetsier always included compositions he thought were being unjustly neglected; already in the fifties he was one of the first who attempted to give the symphonic music of Gustav Mahler the recognition it deserved. In 1966 he was appointed professor of conducting at the College of Music in Munich, where he passed on his knowledge and his experience to a whole generation of young conductors. Jan Koetsier has long since become a living legend in Munich, where he spent over 50 years in the city and its surroundings. Many years ago he escaped the hustle (and the pollution) of the city by moving into a farmhouse in a hamlet near Mühldorf, where the 83 year old still writes music with inexhaustible energy. Koetsier has a special fondness towards brass music, due decisively to Philip Jones, the English trumpeter and longtime leader of the famous London Brass ensemble. In 1946 Jan Koetsier had written a Petite Suite for the brass section of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, which twenty years later fell into the hands of Philip Jones; a connection was initiated and Koetsier's Symphony for Brass, composed for the Briton, became a smashing hit. Besides many symphonies, Jan Koetsier also wrote the dramatic oratorium The Man Lot, which was performed first by Rafael Kubelik in Munich.
Commenting his brass quintet, recorded on this CD, Jan Koetsier writes:
The term and the instrumental formation of 'brass quintet' has its origin directly from the United States, where this style of chamber music has become exceedingly popular at innumerable universities and colleges. With an American insouciance, heterogeneous instruments like trumpet and trombone on one side and french horn and tuba on the other are combined, and amazingly, against all doubts of European composers, an interesting and vibrant picturesque sound emerged.
The rhythmical possibilities with these instruments are extremely enticing; after a short and slow introduction these are relished to the utmost in the first movement of the quintet presented here, with its many changes of meter and shifted accents.
In the second movement a simple, melodious phrase of the trumpet is contrasted with a burlesque theme from the tuba, which, following a few variations, are brought together in a choral manner at the end. The agility and virtuosity of the instrumentalists triumph in the last movement; in a vigorous 6/8 meter, interrupted only by a few obstinate 7/8 meters, the composition gyrates towards its finale.
Documentation: Prof. Jan Koetsier
Victor Ewald (1860 - 1935)
BRASS QUINTET No. 1 in B flat minor, opus 5 (1912)
Victor Ewald was born in St. Petersburg on November 27th, 1860, and died there (the city now being called Leningrad) on April 16th, 1935. He was an engineer by profession; from 1895 to 1915 he was professor at the Institute of Civil Engineering, continuing the practice of his profession after the 1917 revolution as well. He was also interested in Russian folk music, taking part on expeditions to northern Russia to gather folk songs. In addition he was a well-known violoncellist in the salons of the St. Petersburg nobility, notably in the circle of Mitrofan Petrovich Belaiev (1836 - 1904).
Belaiev will go down in history as a music publisher for his support of many Russian composers, among them not only great ones such as Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Glazunow, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and Tcherepnin, but also others such as Ewald. Belaiev also subsidized a series of 14 annual concerts of Russian music in St. Petersburg.
More important for Victor Ewald were the Friday evening string quartet sessions held in Belaiev's house, the publisher himself playing the viola, Ewald the cello. Its all-encompassing repertoire included all the quartets of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, as well as newer works. The sessions started before dinner and always continued until well into the night, never ending before three in the morning. According to the testimony of Rimsky-Korsakov, himself a frequent visitor, the Friday evening sessions had started some time before 1883, with the number of visitors increasing during the winter of 1883 - 1884. Among these were Borodin, Glazunov, Sokolov and others. Sokolov, a teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, was one of Ewald's composition teachers. In addition, we can understand that Ewald must have received much of his undisputed craftmanship and sense of form from the training, formal or informal, in the Belaiev circle.
His first known work is a string quartet, opus 1, which was awarded a third prize in a competition of the St. Petersburg Quartet Society in March, 1893. It was published by Belaiev in 1894. Several other works followed: Romance, opus 2, and Deux morceaux, opus 3, for cello and piano (1894), and a string quintet, opus 4 (1895).
In that year, which was also the year in which he was appointed professor, he apparently ceased composing for a time. Rimsky-Korsakov also reports that by then, the Friday evening quartet sessions had begun to suffer a certain stagnation. In 1899 he wrote one piece, the eighth variation of a collective work, one of the other composers being Scriabin.
His next published work, the Brass Quintet No. 1 in B-flat minor, opus 5, was printed in 1912. It was the only one of his three brass quintets to be published during his lifetime. Ewald's Brass Quintets No. 2 in E-flat Major, opus 6 and No. 3 in D-flat Major, opus 7, remained in manuscript and were edited in the mid-1970s. In recent years a so-called Fourth Brass Quintet, opus 8, has come onto the market, but it is nothing more than a transcription for brass of Ewald's early String Quartet Opus 1.
Looking for an explanation for Ewald's involvement in brass chamber music, we notice that he played not only the cello, but also the tuba. On the other hand, there was a brass ensemble tradition on a high level in late 19th-century Russia.
Written by Dr. Edward H. Tarr, Bad Säckingen Trumpet Museum, Germany
Joseph Horovitz (born 1926)
MUSIC HALL SUITE for Brass Quintet (1964)
Joseph Horovitz was born on May 26th, 1926 in Vienna, Austria and emigrated to England in 1938. His studies with Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music in Oxford and with Nadja Boulanger in Paris determined his future development as composer, conductor and pianist. Even while studying, he was a musical lecturer for the army and performed piano concerts at military bases. Parallel to his work as composer, he was the artistical director and conductor for several institutions and festivals. At the Intimate Opera Company, a formation founded to perform unknown chamber operas from unestablished composers, Horovitz held the position as associate director. Furthermore he engaged himself in the complicated matter of musical copyright and is presently still active in different positions for various organizations in this field. He recieved great recognition for the ballet and opera compositions, written in the 1950's. In addition to their mutual composition teacher Gordon Jacob, Joseph Horovitz and Malcolm Arnold both also participated in the Hoffnung Concerts. For Horovitz, it should not just be a single performance, rather the beginning of an extensive association. Among the various musical caricatures, for which he can acclaim credit, the most famous is the parody Horror Trio. The versatility of Joseph Horovitz is not only demonstrated in the previously mentioned works for ballet and opera as well as the Hoffnung Concerts, yet also in his compositions of serious chamber music, commercialized music and film music.
The recording presented here, Music Hall Suite for Brass Quintet was commissioned in 1964 by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. The condensed performances from the various acts of a turn-of-the-century vaudeville show are re-created within the five movements of this piece.
Documentation: Dr. Hans-Ulrich Michalik
CREDITS
Digitally recorded in June 1994
Sound engineers: Fritz Heieck, Sigurd Krumpfer
Digital Mastering: Sigurd Krumpfer
This Compact Disc was produced without any sound effects, solely the placement and selection of the microphones determine the instrumental sound.
Produktion: Rudolf Bayer
Text: Enrique Crespo, Prof. Jan Koetsier, Dr. Hans Ulrich Michalik, Dr. Eward Tarr, Peter Leiner
Translation: Bernadette and Jochen Scheerer
Photos: Carmen Kreiss
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