Concert with Spanish Brass, Zumarraga, 11th Sept

It was a fine evening in the little Basque town of Zumarraga where I was the guest of Spanish Brass (SBLM).  I feel very fortunate this summer to have played with two of the greatest brass quintets in the world (Gomalan Brass, Riva, July) and now, Spanish Brass. They are a fantastic unit; warming up together, eating and travelling together, they are serious but they laugh a lot, if you know what I mean. They are also brilliantly well organised.

So, after a 5 hour drive from Valencia where we rehearsed the evening before, we arrived for a late lunch in our nice traditional typically Basque hotel, and we were hoping for a little afternoon siesta, only to find a very noisy wedding reception in full swing. Even ears plugs couldn't cancel the 'singing' and noise. But, one we arrived at the incredibly beautiful ancient church, for a rehearsal at 6pm, we easily focussed our minds on making great music in these extraordinary surroundings.

A full church greeted us at 7.30pm, and yes, we started on time...in Spain !!

It was basically the same programme as we recorded on the 'Brass and Wines' cd.

It's a very tough programme but the rich acoustics of the church were helpful, with no really long echo. It fact the acoustics were just about perfect.

Here's the full programme:
1st Part

Batalla Imperial Joan Baptista Cabanilles (Arr. Carlos Benetó)

Toccata y fuga Johann Sebastian Bach (Arr. Fred Mills)

* Concert for Oboe in C Minor - Georg Philipp Telemann  for euphonium and brass quintet

* Lisonjas de la Alcahueta - Juanjo Colomer  for euphonium and brass quintet

2nd Part

* Brass & Wines José Rafael - Pascual Vilaplana  for euphonium and brass quintet
I. Expectativa
II. Almoroig
III. Albir

Asturias Isaac - Albéniz (Arr. Maxi Santos)

La Boda de Luis Alonso - Gerónimo Giménez (Arr. Fco. Zacarés)

* Kaleidoscopic Overdrive - Ben McMillan
for euphonium and brass quintet

encore: * Bravura Variations - Arr.Howey

* solo with Brass Quintet

and here is what the prgramme looked liked:

programme SB - 20100913181242.jpg

As I said, the church was really spectacular !

SB in Z - 20100913183444.jpg

 SB Steve - 20100913183411.jpg

and the audience went home highly satisfied.

For more pictures from this concert, before and after (!), and 1000s more from Spanish Brass on tour, have a look at their fascinating blogsite:

www.spanishbrass.blogspot.com

To purchase the Brass and Wines CD click HERE

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