Every classical musician should have this recording! | The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli

Purists look elsewhere... All else, buy now! | The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli | Giovanni Gabrieli, Girolamo Frescobaldi, ...

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	• The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli Giovanni Gabrieli, Girolamo Frescobaldi, ... Sony, 1996 average customer review:based on 32 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Absolutely Spectacular

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of this release is the sound: You won't be able to believe that these recordings were originally made in 1959 and 1968! The sound is so brilliant and immediate that you'll think the horns and trumpets are right there in the room with you. The second unbelievable thing about this CD is the price: EIGHT DOLLARS for more than 77 minutes of spectacular music in world class performances? Sony, not known for charity towards its customers, could probably have doubled the price on this recording and lost very few sales.

I have been listening for years to the somewhat legendary Canadian Brass recording that has some of the same pieces as this one, and I love that CD as well. (I also have the Crees performances from Naxos, which to me are too reticent for this kind of music.) But this release simply overwhelms that one in pure "spectacularness."

I have no idea how historically authentic the performances are, and for the life of me I don't know why anyone would care a rat's behind about that. The music is being performed for living human beings, not dead academicians. Music is not history; it is a communication to the souls of those who are performing it and listening to it in the here and now. And on that criterion, which in my mind is the only legitimate criterion, this is a magnificent success. If you love music at all, you can't do without this. Considering the recent propensity of record companies to keep classical CD's on the market for a year or less and then withdraw them, you need to get it right away!

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Every classical musician should have this recording!

I originally purchased this recording to hear the brass sections of three power-house orchestras playing together. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this recording has become one of my top ten favorites! The playing is wonderfully musical, well executed, and inspirational. Abe Torchinsky, a former Principal Tuba player from the Philadelphia Orchestra who is featured on this recording, writes in the liner notes, "We went in, sat down, and had fun" -- this is what music should be!

Every classical musician should own this recording. I am a singer, conductor and organist -- have never played a brass instrument in my life -- and I love it!

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Purists look elsewhere... All else, buy now!

Imagine a pastry chef of a future age who sees a perfect color picture of an historical artifact known as a "hamburger." Using this image, he perfectly recreates it using the tool of his trade, the primary ingredients being meringue for the bun and mousse for the burger. The result is absolutely delicious - in fact, a superlative dessert.

Sometime later, a legitimate hamburger recipe is discovered. The pastry chef is roundly derided for his "recreation," an historically inaccurate artifact. He is disgraced.

But happy. As are the many millions who continue to enjoy his concoction.

For genuine hamburger, look elsewhere - this is not Gabrieli as heard in St. Marks' during the Renaissance. But for one of the most spectacular musical "desserts" you will ever enjoy, click the "buy" button immediately. Brass players have rightly sung their Hosannas to this recording since its release in the late 1960's, but you don't have to be a brass player to be almost literally "blown away" by some of the most exciting playing of any sort ever released on a commercial recording.

The documentation is even better in this CD re-release than it was for the original LP, including not only the original liner notes confessing the logistical near-impossibility of getting the three finest orchestral brass sections in the world together in one room for a full weekend of recording, but additional commentary from a performing participant and great contemporary brass players who - in a very real sense - owe their own spectacular careers to the inspiration they received from this release.

But most of all there is the music. The players - the brass sections of the Philadelphia, Chicago, and Cleveland Orchestras - had never before worked together, and rehearsed and recorded the entire LP in nine hours over the course of one weekend. The immediate cameraderie and spontaneity are clearly evident, eclipsed only by the fact that these were some of the finest virtuoso musicians in history, regardless of instrument. My personal advice is to wait until you will bother nobody, turn the knob to "11" (with a nod to "Spinal Tap"), and let your bones vibrate and your spine tingle.

And don't forget to lick your fingers!

A delectable bonus is the organ and brass music from a second release featuring E. Power Biggs and members of the Boston Symphony from the same era. This would be an excellent release in its own right, with particularly fine playing from solo trumpeter Armando Ghitalla, but - to be fair - it was unwise to pair it with one of the most storied brass recordings in history.

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"A Sound Spectacular!"

To quote the cover of the CD booklet accompanying this incredible recording, The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli is "a sound spectacular" indeed! I was first exposed to Giovanni Gabrieli when the orchestra I play in (as a clarinetist) performed his Canzon a 12, complete with brass both on stage and in the auxiliary. Sitting in the middle of the sound was a truly memorable experience and a testament to the power of Gabrieli's compositions alone.

The performers comprise a tour-de-force of American brass talent, creating the most pure, clear, and resonant ensemble sound, despite reported limited rehearsal time and markedly few re-recordings. Perhaps most indicative of the synergistic abilities of the full ensemble is the following, from Abe Torchinsky (Tuba, Philadelphia Orchestra) in the jewel case insert: "We were sitting around having a beer when we realized that we had done the whole record and forgotten to tune our instruments." To even the highly trained ear, this is not remotely evident.

One component rarely mentioned in reviews is the quality of the CD insert, which if you've read my entire review, you can guess that I have read and thoroughly enjoyed. Not only does it include testimony from many of the brass players present (in three languages, no less) but also includes the invaluable "score card," a chart of each musician and where he sat in recording each piece; left, right, center, etc. This is incredibly cool. So buy the CD, get yourself some nice speakers or headphones with right and left sides, and treat yourself to this work of art.

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Sublime and Great Recording

This recording, as the jacket explains, was done spontaneously in a short stretch of a few very inspired hours by 3 of the best brass ensembles in the world. The beauty of Gabrieli and the exquisite and refine harmony of these musicians makes this CD one of the very best recordings of any brass group at any time for any composer. It is a Divine set of pieces in full harmony with the intent of the composer, a great classic.

Venice was a good place to be in the 17th century if you liked to hang out in church--not that you had much choice in those days. Gabrieli's reputation rests on his "polychoral" compositions: works for several choirs, a choir being any size group of voices or instruments. For example, a sacred composition for three choirs might have two brass groups and one chorus, or two choruses and one brass ensemble. The idea was to keep things flexible to allow for changing local conditions. The result, in any case, was a magnificent "question and answer" style of writing, in which great blocks of harmony challenged each other from opposite sides of San Marco Cathedral. If this sort of thing intrigues you, then you owe it to yourself to hear this terrific collection. It's a cosmic experience. --David Hurwitz

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