Search - Isaac Albeniz, Claude Debussy, Manuel de Falla :: Romantic Brass: Music of France & Spain

A better title would be "The softer side of brass"

03/15/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There is much more "soft" (e.g. melancholic, romantic, whimsical) brass here than just romantic brass. I purchased this after an exhaustive search for CD with a rendition of Rodrigo's Concierto Con Aranjuez featuring a solo trumpet which was NOT surrounded a bunch of loud, Sousa-like brass pieces. The Rodrigo piece is good, but overall I prefer the rendition on the Brassed Off! soundtrack. The performances are adept and often inspired but the solo trumpet is often more technical than emotionaly fulfilling. In general this album is a bit schizophrenic. Several pieces (e.g. Albeniz' "Sevilla", Ravel's "Vasles nobles et sentimetnales"),are highly spirited and only "romantic" by the farthest stretch of the imagination but a few (e.g. Falla's " Miller's Dance") are restrained in their exubernace and the majority are quite soothing and worthwhile. I am particularly fond of Debussy's "Des Pas sur la Neige" and Granados "Oriental from Danzas Espanoles"."