Music for just brass

[12tone.]

What are some good pieces / recordings of music for just brass instruments?  Anywhere from just a few brass instruments to orchestral-size.  Any era is good

[hautbois]

[71 dB]

I checked the tracklist of this compilation and yes, it's 'Nimrod' again from Elgar. 'The Severn Suite' would have been nice but no. 

There's a Helios dics of English Brass music with Elgar's 'The Severn Suite' but I don't have it yet...

[david johnson]

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=106612&name_role1=1&bcorder=1&comp_id=173053

super from both the philadelphia and the new england brass ensembles (philly and bso brass players).
anything by the phillip jones brass ensemble.
anything by the ed tarr ensembles.
...and the antiphonal music of gabrieli that hautbois posted!

dj

[pjme]

There's a lot of original works for brass - especially from the late 19th and 20th century.

Great ( but short) fanfares by Maurice Ravel ( from l'Eventail de Jeanne), Claude Debussy ( from Le martyre Saint Sébastien), the very famous one by Paul Dukas ( as a prelude to the ballet La péri), Albert Roussel's (very short) Fanfare pour un sacre païen ( fanfare for a pagan rite), André Jolivet's Fanfares pour Brittanicus. Benjamin Britten's Russian funeral. Florent Schmitt : from Antoine et Cléopatre :le camp de Pompée, Henri Tomasi's Fanfares liturgiques....( 4 works taken from the opera Miguel Manara - lasts approx 20 mins. the final Procession nocturne is very impressive)
Check the recordings of the North Texas Wind O./Eugene Corporon ( on the Klavier label), the Belgian Guides, many British brass bands/orchestras.

I got this list from Wikipedia :
A Moorside Suite: Gustav Holst
The Severn Suite: Edward Elgar
Variations for Brass Band: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes: Ralph Vaughan Williams (Salvation Army)
Overture - Henry the Fifth: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Kenilworth: Arthur Bliss
A Comedy Overture: John Ireland
Cloudcatcher Fells: John McCabe
Diversions on a Bass Theme : George Lloyd
Energy : Robert Simpson
Of Men and Mountains : Edward Gregson
Paganini Variations: Philip Wilby
Prague: Judith Bingham
Prometheus Unbound: Granville Bantock
Three Figures Suite: Herbert Howells
Grimethorpe Aria Harrison Birtwistle

Edward Gregson writes very well for brass ensembles (combines them also with chorus and lots of percussion). He has a website http://edwardgregson.com/en/home/ with discography & samples.

Several Belgian composers write (wrote) well for brass. Jan Van der Roost's style (http://www.janvanderroost.com/e/index.htm ) isn't totaly unlike Gregson's. Large scale works ( Spartacus, Symphonia Hungarica...) alternate with simple hymns and easy -study- material.
François Glorieux is a somwhat strange figure : an entertainer - composer . He has a disc with short, very catchy, light works for brass . Fun.http://www.francoisglorieux.com/index.shtml

Do try works by Gabrieli et al. also in HIP performances.( English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble etc.,Jordi Savall...)



Peter

[longears]

I can recommend Venetian Brass Music by The Wallace Collection.

[hautbois]

I checked the tracklist of this compilation and yes, it's 'Nimrod' again from Elgar. 'The Severn Suite' would have been nice but no. 

There's a Helios dics of English Brass music with Elgar's 'The Severn Suite' but I don't have it yet...

One cannot be a brass enthusiast without hearing at least one recording of the Black Dyke Band in their entire life. Such a wealth of sounds, rooted in a great culture of playing brass instruments. Not your typical band here.

Howard

[Brian]

Beethoven and Bruckner wrote pieces for four trombones, available on this BIS disc.

[Lethevich]

Robert Simpson - Music for Brass (Hyperion)

[not edward]

Robert Simpson - Music for Brass (Hyperion)

That's a good one. There's also the brief Canzona for brass on another Hyperion disc.

There was a great recording of the Wallace Collection playing modern brass pieces (Tippett, Carter, Britten, Lutoslawski) on Collins Classics. Well worth acquiring if you can somehow get hold of it....though the cost would likely be extreme.

[Joe Barron]

There was a great recording of the Wallace Collection playing modern brass pieces (Tippett, Carter, Britten, Lutoslawski) on Collins Classics. Well worth acquiring if you can somehow get hold of it....though the cost would likely be extreme.

I can second Edward's ecommendation, but if you can't find this disk, there's also a good recording of the Carter Quintet with the American Brass Quintet )Summit DCD 275(, which also included music gby Sanders, Whittenberg, and Ingolf Dahl. I love the Carter Brass Quintet. One of his more underrated pieces, imho.

There's aso a terrfic collection of Ives transcriptions, on Naxos, played by the US Marine Corps Band. Techincally, it's not all brass, but there's to hold your interest, I think.

[snyprrr]

How's the Holmboe?

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

How's the Holmboe?

The Holmboe (if you mean his brass quintets - 2 of 'em) is very good. You can get 'em both on a fine Da Capo disc called From the Merry Life of a Spy, played by Art of Brass Copenhagen, with a bunch of other Scandinavian brass quintets.

[MN Dave]

I like these folks. Haven't heard much about them from others so it might just be my own private perversion.

http://www.hmsc.co.uk/

[listener]

I echo the GABRIELLI recommendation  T illustration will provide brass in a wholesale quantity, and if you can find this edition, in a great package, but there is an organ....   well presented with good notes.   
"Sounds of St. Petersburg" has 3 Quintets by Victor EWALD and a brass transcription of his 1^st string quartet   
The Equale Brass disc is transcriptions - WARLOCK, COUPERIN, POULENC, BARTOK, and ARNOLD's (original for brass) Quintet
George LLOYD Symphony 10 'November Journeys'     Wilfred JOSEPHS  Concerto for Brass
and the Finnish Brass Ensemble playing SIBELIUS, MERILÄINEN, and RAUTAVAARA
complete this set of suggestions.
I will add the HOLST Suites for Military Band 1 & 2 which do add woodwinds but are great works.  There's a Telarc recording that's a real woofer tester.

and Carl RUGGLES' Angels  (There's also Angels and Mountains by him, one of these if the brass, the other is a piano work)

[Scarpia]

This is wonderful: