Our Review
Thirty-three tracks! Over an hour of instrumental music! When you play Christmas with the Giannini Brass, you open your living room to a generous serving of nicely-executed classical brass for the holidays. This instrumental offering represents the more serious end of brass ensembles, and this talented sextet adeptly handles the challenging pieces with flair.
I have always loved the trumpet's bright voice, having played one in a swing orchestra for years. Brass is beautiful, to my way of thinking, and the Giannini Brass does a beautiful job of making these holiday favorites come to sparkling life. The opener Ding Dong Merrily on High is alone worth the price of admission; its gentle bells first draw in the listeners, the percussive foundation mesmerizes, and the regal trumpet sweeps you away in the glorious melody. Although the trumpets' clean notes are particularly exciting throughout, the entire ensemble shines. As for my favorite pieces, I especially enjoyed the crisp (but woefully short) He Is Born and the sweetly melancholy Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming. With so many tracks, it is not surprising that the vast majority are snappy snippets under two minutes in length. Still, that rewards the listeners with tremendous variety of ancient carols and even a few modern pieces.
Elegant and crisp, Christmas with the Giannini Brass will delight and entertain those with a weakness for holiday classics served on platters of pure brass. Dig in!
--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2006)
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From the liner notes:
Mark Clodfelter & Kenneth Wilmot, trumpets
Joseph Mount, horn
Chris Ferguson, trombone
David Nicholson, tuba
Jason Brashear, percussion
Founded in 1989, the Giannini Brass has become recognized for exciting and innovative programs. Based in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, members of the Giannini Brass perform in nearly all of the professional orchestras in the Carolinas, and have toured and performed with orchestras and chamber music ensembles through the United States and Europe.
The Giannini Brass was named in honor of Vittorio Giannini (1903-66), the American composer and educator who founded the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Recording Engineer: Steve Blake
Producer: Joseph Mount
The Giannini Brass
Christmas with the Giannini Brass
Artist site
Label: Wolftone Productions
Length: 61 minutes
Genre: Classical
Release: 1997
Track List
| Song Title |
|---|
| Ding Dong Merrily on High |
| O Come, O Come, Emmanuel |
| Jingle Bells-Deck the Halls |
| Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella |
| Patapan |
| I Saw Three Ships |
| Little Drummer Boy |
| March |
| Arabian Dance |
| Russian Dance |
| God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen |
| Let It Snow |
| He Is Born |
| Lutebook Lullaby |
| Carol of the Bells |
| We Wish You a Merry Christmas |
| Hark the Herald Angels Sing |
| Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming |
| It Came Upon a Midnight Clear |
| The First Noel |
| O Little Town of Bethlehem |
| Jolly Old Saint Nicholas |
| O Sanctissima |
| O Tannenbaum |
| Joy to the World |
| Silent Night |
| Angels We Have Heard on High |
| We Three Kings |
| Good Christian Men Rejoice |
| Go Tell It on the Mountain |
| How Great Our Joy |
| Away in a Manger |
| O Come All Ye Faithful |