The Rising of the Son

Tracks

1	Amsterdam Festival March (Norman Bearcroft)	3:36
2	All the Time in the World (Ron Harris, arr. Johan Dokter)	3:49
3	I Will Follow Him (Stole/Roma/Plante, arr. Goff Richards)	3:28
4	Covenant (Bruce Broughton)	6:29
5	Celebrate (Andrew Mackereth)	2:49
6	The Blue Bird (C. V. Stanford, arr. Howard Evans)	3:59
7	Finale from "New World" Symphony (Anton Dvorak, arr. Ray Steadman-Allen)	7:10
8	Love at Home (Olaf Ritman)	2:18
9	I Surrender All (David Chaulk, arr. Andrew Mackereth) Menno van der Woude, flügelhorn solo	4:42
10	New Frontier (William Himes)	6:48
11	Chassidic Dance (Howard Evans)	3:49
12	Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (J. S. Bach, trs. Erik Leidzén)	3:43
13	The Rising of the Son (Howard Evans)	11:44
14	The Salvation Army March (John Philip Sousa, arr. Ray Steadman-Allen)	2:29

Overview  BrassCrest Rating (Overall): 7.45

Explain Ratings

Recorded for the band's visit to the West Coast of the United States in December and January (2002 - 2003), The Rising of the Son has an American flavor, with works from American composers Bruce Broughton, Erik Leidzén, William Himes, and John Philip Sousa. The recording also offers three pieces by the Staff Bandmaster, Howard Evans, including the title selection, which is a new, major work. Overall, a fine recording including music in widely varied styles, with several previously unrecorded items.

Performance  BrassCrest Performance Rating: 7.50

Explain Ratings

The band plays well in a number of different styles, both traditional and contemporary. The trombone section seems particularly strong, although the bass trombone is occasionally a bit too bold. The band shows precise timing when needed, particularly in the opening section of Covenant, which features an increasingly complex rhythmic motif bounded by silences. Dynamics are also a strength of the band, with many of the softer passages played with extreme delicacy. The balance of the ensemble is generally very good. The bright instruments have an occasional tendency to overwhelm the mellow instruments (a common problem with brass band instrumentation), particularly in the lower end, where the exceptional strength of the trombone section is sometimes too much for the euphoniums and basses to overcome. The percussion section is solid and rhythmic, although perhaps a bit too restrained in some of the up-tempo contemporary items.

Stylistically, the band is very versatile, particularly in the contemporary styles. Many brass bands are not capable of performing items that include improvisational passages, but the ASB handles this admirably (especially in the jazz-style arrangement Love at Home. The band sounds more "comfortable" in the contemporary arrangements, but there is nothing to fault in the more traditional styles.

The recording focuses on the ensemble rather than the soloist, with only one piece actually billed as a solo. The solo passages in the various items reveal that the band has top performers in the solo chairs, again, with great strength in the contemporary idiom.

Programming  BrassCrest Programming Rating: 7.00

Explain Ratings

The Rising of the Son is a enjoyable recording, with a wide range of styles and eras included. Total running time of the recording is just over one hour, with the longest selection under 12 minutes in length. The recording is framed with two traditional marches, both of which are not well-known: Amsterdam Festival March, written for the ASB in 1992 but never recorded or published, and The Salvation Army March, written by America's "March King", John Philip Sousa. Unfortunately, this march is not one of Sousa's best efforts, and even expert arrangement by Ray Steadman-Allen does not improve it enough to stand up to the other items on the recording.

There are four major tracks (over five minutes in total length) on the recording. One is the classical transcription of the Finale from Dvorak's "New World" symphony. The others are all in a "contemporary classical" idiom, including the title selection, which is a new work from the pen of Staff Bandmaster Howard Evans. Bruce Broughton's Covenant is a masterful setting of an American folk tune. New Frontier is one of William Himes' early masterworks, written nearly thirty years ago and showing the sense of melody and balanced harmony that marks his compositions.

There are four compositions by members of the band, three from Bandmaster Evans and the delightful jazz arrangment Love at Home by Olaf Ritman. The use of items from members of the ensemble can sometimes be a gamble, as there may be pressure to include items of lesser quality because of the association with the composer. Happily, this is not the case on this recording, as all four items are of good quality.

Perhaps the most intriguing choice of items on the recording is the inclusion of the trombone feature I Will Follow Him. This song was originally recorded by Little Peggy March in 1963 as a secular love song. It was used with religious connotations (without any change in lyric) in the popular 1992 motion picture Sister Act. At first, this choice of music might seem inappropriate on a Salvation Army recording. However, it can be considered as a modern example of the old Army practice of borrowing a popular tune and making it fit the Salvation message. Many of the songs which are now a standard part of the Army songbook have tunes that were originally secular popular songs.

Presentation  BrassCrest Presentation Rating: 8.00

Explain Ratings

The recording is well-packaged and recorded. Liner notes are informative without being verbose. In addition to a group picture of the whole ensemble, there are individual photos along the bottom of wach page in the liner. This is somewhat novel, and seems quite effective. The photos seem to be in the same order as the printed roster in the liner. We purchased our copy of the recording from the World of Brass site. Service was very good - less than ten days to receive the recording after placing the order (and we are in the United States, so this was a transatlantic transaction).

Posted by Webmaster at June 30, 2003 12:00 PM