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May 6, 2008
The Monumental Brass Quintet
April 26, 2008

The spring breezes blew in a quintet of horn players that blew the lid off Bedford on Friday and Saturday, April 25-26.  The Monumental Brass Quintet did a masterful job of subbing for the originally scheduled Philadelphia Brass and could not have been more fun to listen to.

The group kicked off its two-day stay by giving a knock-out concert for 300 middle and upper school students at Everett High School.  The student band members in the audience then broke up into groups by instrument and enjoyed a 45-minute workshop given by the five talented professional players.  The students learned that lung power is everything (“Run marathons!” urged the French horn player) and that it’s easy to practice at home by simply blowing into one’s mouthpiece—buzzing, I think they called it.  Music teachers Sue Lepako and Dan Atwood said they were thrilled at the experiences the kids got.

Saturday night’s Guest Artist Series concert was one outstanding piece after another.  The concert began with the group sashaying in to the “Monumental Fanfare” and “Tin Roof Blues” and ended with the famous and energetic “Grandpa’s Spells” by Jelly Roll Morton. In between we heard crisp Renaissance pieces by Giles Farnaby, William Byrd, and Tylman Susato (the last composer’s works were my particular favorites), some great blues and jazz numbers, a couple of nifty and pleasurable transcriptions from string and keyboard by Vivaldi and Bach, band pieces, and even a hymn.

Highlights for me were the lovely piece called “The Sacred Circle” by John Harmon, written expressly for the Monumental Brass; the quintet’s moving rendition of Copland’s “Simple Gifts”, with perfect tempo; the transcription of Bach’s “Fugue in G Minor;” and the most famous blues piece of all, “St. Louis Blues.”

The five members of the Monumental Brass Quintet played together beautifully as an ensemble and gave the audience very interesting background information on each piece.  Who knew that Bach had 20 children?  Or that an early tuba called a cimbasso still exists? There it was, played in the Claude Le Jeune piece “Revecy Venir Du Printans”.  We will all look for their next CD, which contains many of the pieces played at the Saturday evening concert.

Nancy MacRae, Schellsburg

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