Feierlicher Einzung, Op 103 - R. Strauss
Airs and Dances - Dowland
A Fabled Kingdom of Poets and Fiddlers - Deirdre Gribbin
The Traces of a Revolutionary Song - Donnacha Dennehy
Braggin' in Brass and other pieces - Ellington
Variations on the "Surprise" Symphony - Paul Hart
London Brass, an ensemble of four trumpets, four trombones, horn and tuba, concluded their countrywide tour on Saturday, in Dublin Castle. Under the auspices of Music Network/ESB, the ensemble had held workshops from Bantry to Belfast and made use of local talent to perform Strauss's Op 103 in the original version for 12 trumpets, three solo trumpets, four horns, four trombones, two tubas and timpani. The combined forces brought a Wagnerian opulence to this processional fanfare.
The arrangements of Dowland's music gave the ensemble proper an opportunity to indulge in some florid ornamentation, but their skills were really called into play in the two new works commissioned to commemorate the Rebellion of 1798. Deirdre Gribinn's Fabled Kingdom breathes a spirit of balladry: the rancorous opening for trumpets recalled to this listener the feeling behind the " rebel wind shrieks freedom around her weary head", but much of the work was of a meditative nature and might conceivably have sounded as well or better on strings, even if strings could not have equalled the impact of the clangorous brass.
Donnacha Dennehy's Traces of a Revolutionary Song is as complex and inventive as Fabled Kingdom, but it deconstruction of La Marseillaise gives it a unity of feeling, although that tune if never recognisably heard, that last throughout all its variations of tone and timbre, all its stylistic diversity.
After the sonic explorations of the two commissioned works, the arrangements of Duke Ellington sounded almost domestic, despite some brilliant breaks. The arrangements, mostly by members of London Brass, were a superb recreation of the authentic sound. They were great fun, as was Paul Hart's Variations (on a theme from Haydyn's Symphony No. 94), but the most impressive works of the evening were Fabled Kingdom and Traces, both transcending their commemorative origins.
