ART OF BRASS COPENHAGEN
From the Merry Life of a Spy
Art of Brass Copenhagen
Maja Markert, trumpet
Jesper Boile Nielsen, tuba
David M.A.P. Palmqvist, french horn
Kasper Thaarup
Nikolaj Viltoft, trumpet

Mogens Andresen, composer
Vagn Holmboe, composer
Axel Jørgensen, composer
Anders Nordentoft, composer
Ib Nørholm, composer

About
This CD is the assertive debut album of an outstanding Danish brass quintet. Art of Brass Copenhagen has already won a number of prizes in international music competitions, and the group is known for its brilliant sound. On their first CD the 5 young brass players cross swords with a handful of renowned Danish composers in an adventurous repertoire.

Two trumpets, one French horn, one trombone and a tuba: these are the instruments necessary to form a brass quintet. Something of a rarity in classical music, but nevertheless an ensemble with an amazing sound and a strong expressive potential. Traditionally, the sound of brass instruments has been associated with hunting and military, but since the 1960s the instruments have gained a foothold in the classical concert hall, thanks to among others the pioneering American ensemble New York Brass Quintet – the ensemble that also christened one of the first such works in the Scandinavian context: Vagn Holmboe’s First Brass Quintet from 1965.

Today we have a flourishing tradition of Scandinavian brass music, and in 1996 with Art of Brass Copenhagen, a Danish brass ensemble of international format was created. Vagn Holmboe’s First Brass Quintet was a natural choice for their debut recording, but the ensemble also ventures into demanding works by our most gifted contemporary composers that - like Holmboe - have been inspired by the pure and expressive sound of brass instruments.

Ib Nørholm’s title work, From the Merry Life of a Spy (1999), plays with the listener’s imagination on the basis of a John Le Carré spy novel, while Anders Nordentoft, in his Three Studies for Brass Quintet (1984) dives down under the water in his middle movement with the title Submarine Music. Down there the winds have a special tone! An earlier jewel of Danish brass music is Aksel Jørgensen’s Quintet from 1942; written in a National-Romantic, gracefully dancing style long before the genre had actually established itself. There is also dancing in Mogens Andresen’s Three Norwegian Dances from 1990: a peasant dance with tramping, clapping and a folk musician who grabs not the fiddle, but the trumpet from its hook on the wall.

Dacapo is proud to present Art of Brass Copenhagen’s brilliant sound on CD.

Reviews
This absolutely brilliant disc should give fans of great brass playing something to cheer about... The Art of Brass Copenhagen plays all of this music with proprietary zest, and Dacapo has struck a near-perfect technical balance between warmth, clarity, and a big dynamic range.
10/10 Classics Today

Technically, Art of Brass Copenhagen are as sure-footed as chamnis and play with the cohesion of a string quartet. Excellent sound in a spacious acoustic. A winner!
(International Record Review)

This is a stunning recording capturing the high trumpet transients as well as the gruff edge of the tuba and trombone. Cracking stuff!
(Musicweb.co.uk)

Credits
Recorded at Lyngby Parkkapel on 16-22 June 2001
Recording producer: Preben Iwan
Co-producer: Jesper Juul Sørensen
Sound engineer: Preben Iwan
Graphic Design: Elevator

Recording kindly sponsored by Danish Composer’s Society/KODA’s Funds for Social and Cultural Purposes, Augustinus Fonden, Solistforeningen af 1921 and Danish Musicians’ Union