Here are three new reviews, from 4barsrest.com The Brass Herald,
the other from The British Bandsman
Brass and Wines
14-Dec-2008
Steven Mead dons his musical rucksack and heads to the Iberian Peninsula. Does he make it journey worth raising a glass of the best stuff to, or does it feel like a dose of Spanish flu?
Steven Mead
Spanish Brass Luur Metalls
Bocchino Recordings: BOCC113
Total Playing Time: 64.13
Steven Mead continues to pack his musical rucksack to explore new and exciting horizons.
This time he has headed to the Iberian Peninsula and teamed up with the exotic talents of Spanish Brass Luur Metalls, a quintet of immensely impressive musicians with a 20 year reputation based on innovation and dynamic musicality.
Heady mix
The result is a heady mix of colourful, intelligent performances of a wide variety of repertoire, some of which certainly have a very Latinesque flavour.
Put together like dishes from Ferran Adrià’s ‘El Bulli’ restaurant, the constituent parts are moulded with formidable technical precision, yet the end products are ultimately revealed as so mouth wateringly satisfying too.
As the leading voice, Steven Mead is on rare form, displaying on intuitive ear for balance and texture, complimenting the other performers contributions with a generosity that allows the spotlight time to illuminate their excellence without ever losing its primary focus.
Cohesive unit
The quintet of Juanjo Serna Salvador and Carlos Beneto Grau on tumpet, Manuel Perez Ortega on horn, trombonist Inda Bonet Manrique and tuba player Sertgio Finca Quiros are exceptional performers in their own right, but with close on 20 years experience of playing together it is as a cohesive unit that they display their musicianship to the full.
Detailed, razor sharp technique and warmly balanced timbres are lovingly allied to elegant phrasing as they pass motifs and solo lines amongst each other like old Spanish grandmothers exchanging snippets of village gossip. It allows Steven Mead to dip in and out of at times, complex accompanying dialogue, knowing full well that he will never be overwhelmed. The sense of respect for each others abilities is plain for all to hear.
Distilled
The title track is an expertly distilled example. Skilfully developed from a small germ of a melodic idea, Jose Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana’s work is a delightful triptych of elegant craftsmanship that is as tasteful as a classic Rioja wine.
So too the other works from the home-grown vineyard in Juan J. Colomer’s subtle ‘Lisonjas de la Alcahueta’ and Xavier Montsalvatge’s ‘Cancion de cuna papra dormir a un negrito’ a delicate, suggestive piece of tenderness and atmosphere.
Overdrive
In contrast there is the dislocated modernist ‘Kaliedoscopic Overdrive’ by Ben McMillan – not quite in the Bachmann, Turner classic ‘overdrive’ mould for certain, but a piece of enjoyable angularity.
Tangent
Another surprising tangent is offered by ‘Innuendo’, which although it doesn’t quite capture the camp bombast of the Queen original (not even a football stadium full of Judy Garland fans could do that) it nevertheless still has something about it to keep a whole army of leather trouser moustachioed exhibitionists happy between Bacardi cocktails.
Those whose jib is cut from a totally different musical cloth will certainly enjoy Steven Mead’s tasteful treatment of Telemann’s ‘Concerto for Oboe’, as well as his whimsical surefootedness of the ‘Bravura Variations on a Theme by Mozart’, which really does twinkle with stardust quality.
Leonard Cohen
That just leaves the bonus of Peter Meechan’s chameleon like ‘Elegie’, a piece of richly textured melancholy that wanders with a deep seated intelligence of almost Leonard Cohen morbidity.
As always with Steven Mead a new direction has been found to be one of rich possibilities expertly realised to their full potential. Backed by excellent post production values (from the Damien Hirst inspired polka dot cover to the excellent sleeve notes and crystal clear recording ambience) this is a recording to raise a full glass of the best Rioja Crianza to.
Iwan Fox
Review of Brass and Wines CD BOCC113 The Brass Herald Dec 2008
Brass and Wines is a most exciting new CD release featuring Steven Mead and The Spanish Brass Luur Metalls quintet. There is something sincerely refreshing about this album which the listener will detect from the very first track, since not only does it demonstrate how successful a partnership the tonal lyricism of the euphonium makes with the brighter timbre of the established orchestral brass quintet, but also it is packed with interesting music played to nigh on technical perfection with some stunning musicianship on display.
The opening piece and title track, Brass and Wines, comes from the pen of Jose Rafael Pascual-Vilaplanta and depicts the process of wine making. Each of the three movements takes its title from Spanish wines from Valencia region - an imaginative and appetising theme, setting the mood beautifully for the music to follow in the form of an arrangement of Telemann's Concerto for Oboe in C Major and the Elegie by Peter Meechan. For the writer, this latter work is the outstanding piece of the CD, making it well worth buying for this track alone. The atmospheric essence of the music is arresting and the manner in which both soloist and accompaniment capture the idiom is nothing short of breathtaking.
Following a close second to Elegie is Cancion de Cuna Para Dormir a un Negrito (Lullaby for a black child) by Xavier Montsalvatge. This is a short piece taken from the composer's Five Negro Songs and the addition of a piano into the accompaniment line adds a rare and exquisite touch of musical magic.
Other tracks include Bravura Variations on a Theme by Mozart arr. Howey, Ben McMillan's Kaleidoscopic Overdrive, Lisonjas de la Alcahueta, commissioned from Spanish composer Juan J. Colomer and Roland Szentpoli's arrangement of Innuendo, made famous by rock group Queen as a tribute to Led Zeppelin. The CD finishes with a break-neck speed performance of the Finale from Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin in another Henry Howey arrangement.
Overall this release is a must for anyone thirsting fabulous euphonium playing - Steven Mead's virtuoso skills are in abundance! But on top of this the CD offers a brilliantly sourced selection of music that is artistically balanced as well as being adventurous in terms of combining and contrasting a brass band instrumental voice with those from other musical genres.
Richard Franklin
Here's the review from the edition 22 Nov. 08:
Kenneth Crookston, editor of the British Bandsman was the first reviewer to listen to the new CD Brass and Wines. Please feel free to leave your own brief review on my guest book ! Or if you prefer to do a longer one I'll add them to the review section of this site.
BRASS AND WINES PROVES A FINE VINTAGE
Steven Mead (euphonium)
Spanish Brass Luur Metalls
Bocchino BOCC 113
Available from www.justforbrass and leading stockists
Relative to others in his fi eld, Steven Mead releases a lot of recordings, but the key to his continuing success is in always delivering a high-quality product. In his latest venture, the far-travelled euphonium virtuoso has colluded with the outstanding Spanish Brass Quintet Luur Metalls to provide a varied and entertaining mixture of styles, ranging from Meechan to Mercury and Tchaikovsky to Telemann.
The title track, Brass and Wines by José Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana (who will be remembered by many as the exceptional winner of the Conductors’ Competition at the 2000 European Brass Band Championships in Birmingham) is in three movements – the intriguingly-titled Expectativa (depicting the beginning of the creative process at the Spanish vineyards that provided the inspiration for the music), Almoroig (Arabic for ‘meadow’) and Albir (Arabic for ‘fine to drink’) and it all combines to make
a fine blend that any cultured listener is sure to enjoy.
Telemann’s Concerto for Oboe in C minor is a four-movement work that one wouldn’t immediately imagine would transfer easily to the euphonium with brass quintet accompaniment, but both soloist and quintet give exemplary displays of restraint and artistry to dispel any purists’ fears.
Peter Meechan’s Elegie was originally an unaccompanied work for saxophone, but it has been expanded into an effective and reflective set of variations for this recording. In terms of a test for the performers, Juan J. Colomer’s Lisonjas de la Alcahueta (Flatteries of the Matchmaker) is among the more demanding works in this collection, with copious interplay between soloist and accompanying group.
Adolphe Adam’s Bravura Variations on a Theme by Mozart is based on the theme familiar today as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, which sounds pretty straightforward on paper, but it actually represents a considerable test of any player’s technique, which all performers pass with flying colours.
American composer, Ben McMillan, wrote the fascinating Kaleidoscopic Overdrive for Steven Mead and Spanish Brass in 2007, with the title deriving from its ‘constantly shifting, multi-metered nature’, which sums it up pretty well. It is followed by Xavier Montsalvatge’s Lullaby for a Black Child, a beautifully reflective piece with the tiniest hint of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Queen’s Innuendo, which follows in an arrangement by Roland Szentpali, could have benefitted from having a larger ensemble, but it is very effective nevertheless.
The final work on this excellent CD is the finale from Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, which will be familiar to most, although the idea of a euphonium playing a work with such challenging intervals is a concept that will be alien to many. That all performers reach the finishing line unscathed is a tribute to both their ability and their courage.
Extended programme notes are provided in Spanish and English for a product that is clearly aimed at worldwide market. It is to be hoped that brass aficionados the world over take this opportunity to hear one of brass bands’ finest ‘exports’, backed by a truly virtuosic group.
Kenneth Crookston