Continuous Brass presenteerde zich op zondag 18 september jl. in een gezellig gevulde Barth Kapel te Den Haag met de volledige bezetting in een feestelijk programma “Continuous Brass 10 jaar!” Het gevarieerde solistische programma met pianobegeleiding in allerlei combinaties werd door het publiek enthousiast ontvangen.

Het koperkwartet speelde nog een set met lichtere nummers alvorens het concert met twee encores werd afgesloten. De tweede toegift was tevens een wereldpremière aangezien tubaist André Vulperhorst speciaal voor Continuous Brass een compositie voor koperkwartet & piano had geschreven getiteld ‘CB’. Gebaseerd op deze twee noten volgt er een swingende ragtime waar zelfs Bach fugatisch nog even om de hoek komt kijken. Na afloop was er een gezellige ‘meet & greet’ en kon er onder het genot van een lekker wijntje nog nagepraat worden.

Chapter 2 ‘The Brass Quartet’

In chapter one the creation of ‘Continuous Brass’, starting in The Netherlands as a professional brass trio in 2006, has been described. From 2008 a pianist was added in order to have more possibilities during concerts. This contributed playing more frequently as soloists with piano accompaniment.

In 2012 a tuba player joined our brass section, so a special brass quartet was created. The first piece we added to our repertoire was ‘Fanfare to Bima’ (1950) by Leonard Bernstein. A very short one minute capricious piece, a real flashy concert opener. Now the balance in this setting is quite interesting since we played with just one trumpet together with one french horn, one trombone and one tuba. Here the search towards original pieces started. Happily for us the French composer and tuba player Thierry Thibault has composed original and arranged pieces for this type of quartet. A very nice sunny original Thibault quartet is ‘Alla Cubana’ which can be listened by clicking here. Other Thibault arrangements are: ‘The Impressario’ (W.A. Mozart), ‘Colliwogg’s Cakewalk’ (C. Debussy) and ‘La Valse Fantastique’ (H. Berlioz). Other composers created also nice original repertoire like ‘Brass Polka’ (J. Horovitz), Instants d’une Aventure comme au Cinéma (A. Meier), Orange Tango & Tangolla (A. Lopez). Our versatile programms still consist of special brass trios like ‘Trio’ by F. Hidas for low brass, ‘Trio’ by M. Schmitt for trumpet, trombone and tuba, ‘Pearl’ by E. Lewis for flugelhorn, french horn and tuba. In 2013 we performed ‘Semaphore’ a beautiful and cheerful composition by Thierry Thibault for brass quartet and symphonic wind orchestra, the live registration can be listened by clicking here.

During this transition period, becoming a brass quartet, we did not forget our pianist and we still performed in various settings with piano accompaniment. The ultimate composition for brass quartet and piano, the only one in the repertoire, is Joseph Turrin’s ‘Solarium’. A challenging piece we still have to master and yet to perform. On 18 September 2016 we will celebrate our “tenth anniversary” in the ‘Barthkapel’ located in The Hague, The Netherlands. It will be a nice cosy afternoon concert with coffee, cakes and a good glass of wine afterwards in which we hope to meet and greet our Dutch fans but of course music lovers from abroad are most welcome too. Interesting pieces we want to perform are: ‘Pocono Menagerie’ by Kerry Turner for trumpet, french horn, tuba and piano and ‘Capriccio’ by Lewis J. Buckley for trumpet, tuba and piano. The rest of the programm will be individual soli and brass quartets. We can be followed on http://www.trompetnet.nl/continuousbrass and future concerts we like to promote here too.

Next time more about our plans to further enlarge the ensemble!?

Chapter 1 ‘The Brass Trio’

In 2006 we started as a professional brass trio in The Netherlands with a nice variety of music for trumpet, french horn and trombone. The name of the ensemble ‘Continuous Brass’ has been decided on the spot. We all three were members of the chamber orchestra Continuo Rotterdam and wanted to explore the Dutch market for small ensembles. A few of the repertoire pieces we knew already like the famous Sonata by Francis Poulenc. Many brass players will have studied this in high school or in the academy. From the Baroque period there were some transcriptions from composers like J.S. Bach and G.F. Händel which always sound nicely on brass instruments. We wanted to get deeper in original compositions and happily our Dutch composers have been creative in this field. Marius Flothuis connected with the Concertgebouw orchestra has composed a Sonatina (1945), Jan Koetsier wrote a very nice and demanding composition based on Mozart melodies ‘Figaro-metamorphosen’ (1992) and in 2007 Marco de Goeij wrote his ‘Intrada’ for us which we performed live for the Dutch prime minister J.P. Balkenende who opened a cultural building in Capelle a/d IJssel near Rotterdam. This Intrada can be watched on YouTube by clicking here. American composers have been also very productive in composing for brass trios like Anthony Plog, Eric Ewazen, Robert Muczynski, David Uber, Paul Gay, Eddie Lewis and many more. In this formation we have done many recitals and performances in festivals. The idea was that a small ensemble can operate swiftly and is affordable.

After a few years playing brass trios we decided to add a pianist. In this way we could make our recitals more versatile. Our first combination was a recital programm for trumpet, trombone and piano with compositions by Boris Blacher (Divertimento), Jan Koetsier (Irisches Trio & Gran Trio), Herbert L. Clarke (Cousins) and Joseph Turrin (Fandango). In this setting our pianist could play also solo and accompany us individually with trumpet- and trombone soli. Later on we did the same in adding the french horn into our programms. Brass trios with piano accompaniment are rare but Paul Gabaye wrote his fantastic ‘Recréation’, Jean-Marie Depelsenaire ‘Dialogue avec la nuit’, William Schmidt ‘Chamber Music’ and Kerry Turner ‘Bandera’. Summarizing plenty of possibilities and repertoire!

During this transformation we added a new meaning to our ensemble name Continuous Brass. In Dutch we expressed it as follows “Continu muziek waar het plezier vanaf straalt’ meaning in English non stop music in which fun radiates and also referring to the fact that the players in a brass trio need a very good endurance. Possibly it sounds better in Dutch-;) Dutch composer and friend Marco de Goeij remained very creative towards us because in 2012 he wrote his ‘Jazz impromptus’ for brass trio. We premièred this again in Bodegraven and the public was very enthusiastic. The atmosphere in the piece is from utterly intimate to exuberant jazzy moods. The composition is quite extensive (19 minutes) and yet we have to record it. But if we do it will be for sure on YouTube!

Next time more about our changing into a brass quartet.