| Septura“Good poets borrow, and great poets steal” – and British brass ensemble Septura are a pack of young thieves. Nobbling some of music’s best piano pieces Septura create their parallel universe where the brass septet rules. In their second programme, the music of the Roaring 1920s in New York shines with Gershwin’s American Songbook and the iconic An American in Paris - both played by a line-up of beautiful British blokes – on brass. Nerts! You’ll be amazed!
Touring to Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland between 23 April and 1 May. Visit https://chambermusic.co.nz/septura/ for more information. Video Type: YouTube |
| In the Bleak midwinter (Darke) – Christmas with SepturaBrass instruments are almost a Christmas cliché: synonymous with the celebration, but perhaps not with the wealth of great music that it has inspired. Septura sets out to rectify this, re-imagining for brass septet the Christmas offerings of the greatest composers of the past 450 years. Pushing the combinations and colours of the septet to the limits, the result is a virtuosic and varied selection of festive favourites.
Many of the English choral pieces that we have re-imagined have been made famous by the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, broadcast worldwide on Christmas Eve from King’s College, Cambridge. Harold Darke’s nostalgic In the bleak midwinter has been a mainstay of that service since 1941, when he became the war-time Director of Music at King’s. He followed in the footsteps of Holst in setting the text by Christina Rossetti, but unlike Holst’s version, Darke’s isn’t strictly strophic. Instead, it alternates verses for solo voice and organ with ones for the full choir. In our transcription cup-muted instruments provide the organ accompaniment as the first verse (normally sung by a treble) is played by a solo trumpet, and the third (normally a baritone) employs the unique sound of a solo euphonium. In the second and fourth verses a quartet of instruments play the rôle of the choir.
Trumpets: Huw Morgan, Alan Thomas, Simon Cox
Trombones: Matthew Gee, Matthew Knight, Dan West
Tuba: Sasha Koushk-Jalali
www.septura.org
www.facebook.com/septuraofficial
www.twitter.com/septuraofficial Video Type: YouTube |
| Shostakovich: 8th String Quartet for Brass Septet – SepturaWebsite – http://septura.org/
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/septuraofficial
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/septuraofficial
Sheet music – http://www.resonatamusic.com
Septura's third release for Naxos takes on the most venerated chamber music medium – the string quartet – and one of the most iconic works of their repertoire: Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet. Written in just 3 days in the ruins of post-war Dresden in 1960, the piece was dedicated "to the victims of fascism and war". This footage is from Septura's recording sessions, and features the dramatic second movement.
Septura:
Trumpets:
Philip Cobb
Simon Cox
Huw Morgan
Alan Thomas
Trombones:
Matthew Gee
Edward Jones
Matthew Knight
Dan West
Tubas:
Pete Smith
Sasha Koushk-Jalali
http://www.naxos.com/person/Septura/219249.htm
Recorded by Phil Rowlands and Jim Unwin. Video Type: YouTube |
| Handel: Suite from 'Rinaldo' for Brass Septet – Septura featuring Matthew Gee (trombone)Website – http://septura.org/?p=1101
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/septuraofficial
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/septuraofficial
CD – http://amzn.to/1vU2xin
Sheet music – http://www.resonatamusic.com
From our second recording for Naxos, this is Sibilar gli angui d'Aletto from the opera Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel.
Recorded in St Paul's, New Southgate in North London in May 2014, Music for Brass Septet Vol. 2 travels back a couple of centuries to the music of Baroque opera, with works by Rameau, Blow, Purcell and Handel.
Handel's 1711 crusader opera Rinaldo – the first Italian-language opera composed for the London stage – pits the Christian Rinaldo against Argante, the Muslim King of Jerusalem. Featuring Matthew Gee as the virtuoso trombone soloist, this is Artistic Director Simon Cox's arrangement of bellicose Argatne's grand Act I entrance.
This recording was made possible thanks to funding from Stewart Newton.
Trumpets (L to R): Huw Morgan, Alan Thomas, Simon Cox
Trombones (R to L): Matthew Gee, Matthew Knight, Dan West
Tuba: Pete Smith
http://www.naxos.com/person/Septura/219249.htm
Recorded by Phil Rowlands and Jim Unwin. Video Type: YouTube |