Versatility Reigned At Canadian Brass Show
The Canadian Brass, Spokane Symphony SuperPops Friday, Spokane Opera House
Most of us knew that we would hear a top-notch classical music quintet at the Opera House Friday night.
We didn’t know, however, that we would also hear one of the world’s finest swing, blues and Dixieland jazz outfits.
The Canadian Brass is all of this and more. When we filed out of the Opera House after two-plus hours of virtuoso musicianship and high-spirited fun, we weren’t whistling excerpts from Wagner’s “Lohengrin”; we were whistling “The Beale Street Blues.”
If only we could whistle as well as these five guys can play.
Personally, I was still reeling from a medley of two of my favorite pieces of music, two tunes that I could never have imagined could be hammered together at all, much less with such spectacular results: “When the Saints Go Marching In,” and Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus. The sum was even more thrilling, infectious and downright entertaining than the two parts.
These five musicians (only two of whom go back to the quintet’s beginning 30 years ago) made a lighthearted entrance, oom-pahing their way down the aisle of the Opera House from the back of the house. They are perfectly capable of doing a solemn concert of say, baroque music, but since this was a pops concert, solemnity was out the window.
Tuba player Charles Daellenbach played some notes while lying flat on his stomach (it helped him to hit the low ones, apparently). He played another note, a B-flat if I call correctly, while turning his tuba in a 360-degree circle, which is somewhat of an Olympian feat of gymnastics and weight lifting.
They also demonstrated a gift for humor of what you might call the Smothers Brothers variety, with a lot of silliness and absurdity. One example: They lamented that their record label would not let them change the title of their Duke Ellington tribute, “Take the A-Train,” to their improved Canadian title, “Take the Train, Eh?”
Their Duke Ellington medley was brilliant, as was their all-brass rendition of “Lohengrin,” in which the Spokane Symphony strings were dismissed from the stage.
However, I ended up shaking in my head in greater amazement at something that doesn’t sound possible, or even advisable: A brass quintet version of the Beatles’ “Come Together.”
With the tuba providing the deep bass riff, and the two fiery trumpets of Jens Lindemann and Ryan Anthony providing a wildly improvised melodic line, this was a triumph of both musicianship and imagination.
The Symphony did an outstanding job of backing up the Canadian Brass. Under the lively and spirited direction of new associate conductor Fabio Costa (who for simplicity’s sake we might as well refer to as Fabio II), they also did two stirring numbers of their own, a symphonic fantasy based on “When the Saints Go Marching In” (which boasted a virtuoso trumpet solo of its own) and Khachaturian’s Waltz from “Masquerade.”
By the way, the Opera House looked especially impressive on Friday night, decorated with huge, colorful banners by Spokane artist Louise Kodis. They floated from the ceiling in graceful waves and cascaded down back of the stage. It was a terrific idea, well executed.