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CANADIAN BRASS' SKILLFUL HODGEPODGE A WALLOP OF DELIGHT

MARY KUNZ - News Classical Music Critic, November 2002

The Canadian Brass knows how to make an entrance. Hardly had the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Assistant Conductor Ron Spigelman finished a very zesty rendition of Glinka's famous Overture to "Russlan and Ludmilla" than there could be heard, from the back of Kleinhans Music Hall, the mournful, dignified sound of a New Orleans jazz band.

The hymn the band was playing was "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," and after the five brass players who make up the Canadian Brass had paraded up the stairs and onto the bandstand -- er, concert stage -- they ended the tune with a low growl on the tuba. Everyone in the audience was smiling by then. Everyone was in a good mood. You just can't help it, witnessing that kind of spectacle. The rest of the evening was a real mixed bag, as the Canadian Brass took us through all kinds of American music, from cowboy songs to jazz.

The cowboy folk song medley, called "Westward Ho," was a little sleepy (we heard songs like "Home on the Range" and "Old Paint," accompanied by clip-clop effects from the orchestra). But the skill of these guest artists is beyond doubt, and they brought a tremendous spirit and finesse to, among other things, an Ellington tribute and also a delightful hodgepodge of Sousa marches. The Ellington set was called "Classical Duke" and wound up with an absolutely killer version of "It Don't Mean a Thing."

Ryan Anthony and Joe Burgstaller, who play trumpet in the Canadian Brass, both have that Harlem sound down. They know how to handle those mutes, and their moans and growls were something to hear. The BPO, too, should get credit for laying down that jungle beat Ellington loved so much. Imagine Charles Ives joking around and you might get an idea of "Salute to Sousa." The piece was designed to suggest a slew of marching bands, all playing Sousa marches, passing each other, interrupting each other, occasionally drowning each other out. The medley began with a suspenseful drum roll, and quickly turned into a riot.

The Canadian Brass trumpet players enjoy playing the piccolo trumpet, the highest-pitched member of the trumpet family. BPO trumpet players, too, brought out this instrument for the Sousa set, and the preponderance of these high, fluttery trumpets added to the music's boisterous feel. A certain appealing carelessness didn't hurt, either. You could call this music artfully haphazard -- sometimes it sounded a little out of time, as if the performers had enjoyed a beer or two. In other words, the piece was perfectly pulled off.

Anyone who loves Sousa (and who doesn't, secretly?) will get a big kick out of it. The Canadian Brass also turned out a three-song Beatles salute that was worlds above any Beatles I've ever heard at a symphony pops concert. His trusty piccolo trumpet enabled Burgstaller to duplicate, pretty much, the solo heard on the record of "Penny Lane." (Tuba player Charles Daellenbach, the unofficial emcee, theorized that on the record, the solo was supplied electronically.) "Blackbird" spotlighted the considerable skills of trombonist Eugene Watts.

The last Beatles song, an odd and admirable choice for a pops concert, was "Come Together." The frantic, hilarious opening fanfare alone would have won my applause, but the jazzy, crazy way in which the Burgstaller and Anthony attacked the song itself put the piece over the top. (Between "Come Together," W.C. Handy's "Beale Street Blues" and the Ellington set, this concert isn't a bad Jazz 101.) Also a highlight was the popular "Triumphal March" from Verdi's "Aida," blared by the orchestra with just the right balance of stateliness and sass. "We have a pretty good brass section, too, don't you think?" Spigelman said when it was through.

We do indeed. The concert repeats tonight at 8 o'clock.

FOR REFERENCE ONLY. NOT TO BE REPUBLISHED.