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Blazing Brass reviews
2000 - 2001
Blazing Brass wins British Bandsman CD of the Year 2001
Breathless Blazing Brass
by John Maines
British Bandsman - 24 November 2001When I reviewed this disc back in the summer, I intimated that this recording would be one of the front-runners when deciding on the British Bandsman CD of the Year Award. Although a couple of discs have come close, I have no hesitation in picking out the talents of the New York Staff Band on the brilliant Blazing Brass.
Under the direction of Ronald Waiksnoris, the NYSB proves beyond a doubt to be one of the Salvation Army's finest outfits. This CD from the band along with tuba virtuoso Patrick Sheridan as guest soloist is, in my opinion, the band's best to date. .
Congratulations to conductor Ron Waiksnoris, the band and soloist for producing a recording which is well worthy of the accolade British Bandsman CD of the year 2001.
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Blazing Brass
New York Staff Band and Patrick Sheridan, Tuba
Review by Tim Mutum
CRITIC'S CORNERYou realize just how far The Salvation Army has traveled when a CD includes a performance of 'Grandfather's Clock' played on the tuba by Patrick Sheridan, who seems to have work with just about every ensemble that counts. But if this timeless George Doughty number and other light-hearted jollies illustrate the show side of this versatile player, don't be fooled because this is one serious musician. And it is in this context that Sheridan shows his real worth in the Martin Ellerby 'Tuba Concerto'. Here there is a quality of sound that the average tuba player just dreams about, by but golly it is something to look up to! The concerto defies the norm of quick, slow, quick, and is in one continuous movement, but broken into two almost equal halves. A rather mournful opening for the soloist breaks into a lyrical section and then into an allegro, which is fiery in character.
With Sheridan contributing 31 of the 71 minutes, you would be forgiven for thinking that the NYSB are just a side show. You would be oh so wrong. Sheridan is the very rich icing on an extremely delicious cake. Kevin Norbury is the major contributor to the balance with an opening march 'Proclaimers' and a 'Flourish and Dances' which follow a work he penned specifically for the soloist on this disc. It is a playful 'Badinage', but his major contribution is 'Truth Aflame' which has a rock-like opening section, a slower, lyrical middle and a resounding conclusion. Norbury's class in writing for band at a quality level is so clearly evident here.
Other contributions are a Brenton Broadstock trombone trio, Peter Graham's 'Ad Optimum' and a delightful vocal solo in which the band accompany Raymond Livingston in 'Into the Fire'. Finally there are two mild disappointments. 'Variations on a Tyrolean Song' with a tuba as the solo instrument, is a case of being too clever-despite showing Sheridan's super-human technical skills, and the same might well be said of 'The Stars and Stripes Forever' where a tuba playing the famous piccolo solo patently does not work.
That aside this disc is an absolute stunner, the sound is so alive and the band in tip top form with a program that overall shows imagination and flair. I'm not sure about Blazing Brass, it's more a case of Amazing Brass.
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'Blazing Brass'
Review by Wally Pope
Australia's Band World'Blazing Brass' by New York Staff Band with Patrick Sheridan on tuba is simply a top CD.
'Blazing Brass' opens and closes with a march. 'The Proclaimers' is a contemporary piece by Kevin Norbury where the NYSB's general character and personality are profiled. 'The Stars and Stripes' fittingly has Sheridan playing the piccolo solo on tuba.
The NYSB under Bandmaster Ronald Waiksnoris display their team-oriented wizardry in five other tracks. In an excerpt from Act 1 of Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake' and again in Kevin Norbury's 'Flourish and Dances' the band displays a blisteringly hot technical ability. Two works fit into the contemporary symphonic overture classification - 'Ad Optimum' (Peter Graham) and 'Truth Aflame' (Kevin Norbury).
Sheridan as the featured soloist combines a noble tone and a fun personality when making his instrument sing.
With the NYSB, Patrick plays five solos from the modern to the traditional. Peter Graham and Mark Freeh respectively have 'Grandfather's Clock' and Arban's 'Tyrolean Song' in tasteful style. Both retain the traditional theme and variations and exceedingly fast endings, where Patrick's technique is blinding.
Goedicke's 'Concert Etude' arranged by William Broughton has a strikingly soft finish. 'Badinage' is a work written for Patrick and the NYSB by Kevin Norbury and the tastefully, slightly rude bass trombone sound is complemented by Patrick's rude pedal at the finish.
Martin Ellerby's 'Tuba Concerto' is simply a fine piece of music well played by band and soloist.
And there is some Australian content with Brenton Broadstock's 'My Shepherd', a trombone section feature.
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NYSB, Patrick Sheridan thrill with playing of 'highest order'
Review by Vernon Briggs
Brass Band World, July/August 2001This CD gets off to a fine start with an exhilarating new concert march by Kevin Norbury entitled The Proclaimers, which is immediately followed by the scintillating technical tour-de-force of Patrick Sheridan's tuba version of the Grandfather's Clock Variations. The programme continues with interesting fresh band pieces alternating with impressive tuba performances throughout.
The most prestigious of the soloist tracks is undoubtedly the Tuba Concerto by Martin Ellerby which has two complimentary sections in one 12-minute movement-an intriguingly mellow Andante followed by a pugnaciously athletic Allegro, each manifesting a significant aspect of the true tuba character. Ronald Holz's sleeve note sums up this work's excellence by saying "Ellerby manages the tutti-soli dialogue with a masterful control of the band's resources while allowing the tuba to sing its musical argument in unimpeded space and with rare excellence", and the performance demonstrates this admirably.
Kevin Norbury's Badinage was specifically written for Patrick Sheridan, and is an attractively brisk but lyrical piece which concludes with a whimsically swinging 'heavenly' ride filled with technical challenges and fun rhythms. Surely a winner in the 'light music' stakes! There are still two further virtuoso displays to enjoy from the guest soloist, when in Goedicke's Etude, the velocity of the double-tonguing has you gasping, and in Arban's Variations on a Tyrolean Song the triple-tonguing leaves you absolutely 'gob-smacked'. Patrick Sheridan's instrumental technique is phenomenal.
The intervening band pieces are also talking-points. An excerpt from Act I of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake sends the whole band scurrying at an almost frantic speed but they maintain it astonishingly well and with tight ensemble. Next Kevin Norbury takes a backward look at the styles of some old dances in Flourish and Dances (and I loved his Hornpipe). Brenton Broadstock's arrangement for trombone and band of an American folk-tune My Shepherd is surprisingly conventional, but there is more satisfaction from Peter Graham's Ad Optimum which is based on material from three good hymn-songs and is in the tradition of worthy SA tone poems.
It is Norbury's overture Truth Aflame however that provides the star item for band, as it takes themes from two contrasting musical settings of 'Thou Christ of burning cleansing flame, send the fire' (one tune being Edwardian and the other modern) and works out an imaginatively dramatic and emotional musical design from these. The band's playing here, as indeed throughout the programme, is of the highest order.
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On Track
Review by John Maines
British Bandsman 16 June, 2001NEW out from one of the Salvation Army's finest outfits, The New York Staff Band, this latest offering conducted by Ronald Waiksnoris features the talents of tuba virtuoso Patrick Sheridan, and in my opinion, is the band's best to date.
Opening with an absolutely stunning march by Kevin Norbury, The Proclaimers, just one of four Norbury outputs in this amazing disc, the band immediately informs us that this is one of the finest bands we will ever hear anywhere in the world, Salvation Army or not.
Patrick Sheridan is featured on the next track in a super rendition of that old chestnut Grandfather's Clock (arr. Peter Graham) and it is quite obvious to see why Mr. Sheridan is regarded so highly as he brings a fresh touch to this old favourite.
If you thought the opening of this CD was a stunner then hold on to your hats and prepare to have your breath taken away by some of the most technically proficient playing I've heard for years in Trevor Davis' fiendishly difficult transcription of an excerpt from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
The serious side of Patrick Sheridan's soloistic qualities is displayed next in Martin Ellerby's Tuba Concerto. Apart from just technical wizardry he displays a deep meaningful musicianship enveloped in a golden sound and the difficult accompaniment is handled with ease by the band and conductor. Another highly enjoyable Kevin Norbury piece, Flourishes and Dances, is again played excellently with some super percussion work followed by his Badinage, which was written especially for Sheridan and the New York Staff Band.
Brenton Broadstock's trombone feature, My Shepherd, brings to the listener a warmth of sound and expression gained from a commitment to their music, and finds the trombone section in fine form, with some lovely moments to savour. On the other hand Peter Graham's Ad Optimum mixes that warmth with a brilliance which suits the band down to the ground. A great piece, and although a difficult choice, the highlight for me.
Once again, we are treated to the delights of Patrick Sheridan's playing in a piece of music normally heard on cornet, Goedicke's Concert Etude, which has to be handled correctly if it is to work on tuba. Well, no worries there! Sheridan's apparent ease of technique gives the music a clarity that could easily have been lost on such low brass.
A pleasant change is offered in the way of a song, with Raymond Livingston using his excellent voice to great effect in Into the Fire, before it's not so much a case of The Amazing Mr. Arban, but Mr. Sheridan in the French cornet legend's Variations on a Tyrolean Song, in which arguably the fastest triple tonguing ever can be heard!
The finale to this fine recording is provided by two contrasting pieces. The first is Kevin Norbury's setting of an 18th century Salvation Army song, Truth Aflame, which again finds the band at its best in this fine composer's richly crafted music. The second is Peter Graham's transcription of the USA's most famous march, The Stars and Stripes Forever complete with Patrick Sheridan on piccolo tuba! Hardly surprising that this is included when, on reading the list of past guest conductors of the New York Staff Band, you see the name of the one and only John Philip Sousa!
Congratulations are due to conductor Ron Waiksnoris and the band and soloist for over 70 minutes of all that is good about brass playing. If, when 2001 is drawing to its close, this disc is not a nominee for CD of the year, then I for one can't wait to hear the ones that are nominated!
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