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Brass
and Organ Christmas/Bay
Brass
If
you're looking for festive
Christmas music by brass and
organ, you won't find a better
recording than this one. The
arrangements are lovely and
unusual, the performances loving.
While I enjoy the whole disc, I
am especially taken by Elgar
Howarth's haunting look at
"Greensleeves", Anthony
DiLorenzo's spectacular settings
of "Joy to the World" and "Hark,
the Herald Angels Sing", Jonathan
Ring's touching arrangement of
"Silent Night" (which begins and
ends with conductor A. David
Krehbiel and horn player Robert
Ward on alphorns), David
Baldwin's setting of the
"Hallelujah Chorus" and Ralph
Carmichael's colorful arrangement
of "Twelve Days of
Christmas."
Staffed
by members of the San Francisco
Symphony and other important area
orchestras, Bay Brass is a truly
wonderful brass ensemble with a
full-bodied sound and no rough
edges. The recording was made in
Grace Cathedral with John
Fenstermaker, who plays a
magnificent Aeolian-Skinner organ
with 123 ranks and a smaller
19th-century hand-pumped one.
Considering the acoustics of such
a large space, the recorded sound
is excellent - the group is heard
in fine detail, and the lengthy
sound delay is never obtrusive
and is often magical.
Kilpatrick
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