Give Now  »

The Canadian Brass Takes Flight

members of the quintet with their instruments

The Canadian Brass's latest CD is a review of music of the past,of the core repertoire that they've had a major part in creatingand a setting of the stage for the future with commissions and a new piece by one of their own members.

Chamber Music In The 70s

In the chamber music world of the 1970s there were plenty of string quartets, and piano and violin combinations. IU's Menahem Pressler and the Beaux Arts Trio were inspiring the next generation of piano trio players, but brass players weren't quite in that position.

Players Yes, Pieces No

"Well, we'd missed a couple of hundred years from composers like Beethoven and Haydn setting a chamber music repertoire," said the Canadian Brass's founding tubist Chuck Daelenbach "Brass playing itself had really come of age with really, really wonderful players. Actually a Chicago Brass Quintet had started the whole thing about 1948, so we inherited a form but the repertoire was really lagging."

One Small Hill, And Then Another...

"We loved the instruments and we loved the idea, so we kind of put our heads together and said how are we going to make this work. And our ambitions were small so we climbed one small hill and then another and another…and the hills kept getting larger and more exciting. With a lot of work and attention to developing the repertoire with arrangements and commissions we were able to create an audience for brass and for Canadian Brass and it's been a wonderful venture."

The Core And Beyond

"The CD Brass Takes Flight highlights the music that got us here. There's Bach and some baroque of course. Mozart, Yes. Brahms music is a fairly recent entry. Then there are showpieces like "The Carnival of Venice." We include a bit of gospel as a nod to New Orleans, and then look to the future with a recording of a new piece "Lament" by our trumpet player Brandon Ridenour."

Support For Indiana Public Media Comes From