As a brass player, it’s always pleasing when Peak Music Society provides an opportunity to showcase this medium, and so I was looking forward to hearing Connaught Brass perform at the latest concert in the Societies Spring season.
With two Trumpeters, playing an assortment of instruments, including a Flugel Horn; a French Horn, Trombone and Tuba, you would be forgiven for thinking a full concert might be a little ‘brassy’, but we heard an impressive array of delicate textures, colourful dynamic range and virtuoso technique from this talented young band.
From the upper register of the Piccolo Trumpet in Rameau’s Dardanus to the organ like pedals from the Tuba in Bach’s Toccata, each of the ensemble are clearly highly proficient exponents, fully in command of their respective instruments. And with a program that took us from Handel to Bernstein they showed remarkable stamina to be able to return to the stage for a sumptuous encore of Gershwin’s Someone to Watch Over Me, a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment.