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Brass listening from class 2/17

 Style of Brass Quintet Pieces  Alyabiev As we discussed, this is the first brass quintet we have access to, and being written during the romantic period, the traits of that style of writing come through very clearly. The beginning opens with a slow adagio, very diatonic harmonies, and slow melodic gestures that eventually lead us to a triumphant, very brass tempo change, with more virtuosic ideas. The full potential of valved instruments are used here, with many runs in the soprano voices. We eventually leave our home key of Eb major, and go on an exploratory tonal shift into a development section. This lands us in B flat major, which quickly cadences back into our home key of Eb major. Eventually we fade out in the same Eb minor that the piece started with. Overall the style of this piece is very romantic, akin to the period it was written in, and despite this age, it still reads and sounds like a more modern classical piece for brass quintet.  Poulenc  This piece ...
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Recording Listening Session in Class

 Gabrieli is famous for having written music for antiphonal brass. These piece are often grandiose in nature, and feature both the loud and soft dynamics of brass instruments. Syncopation is used often throughout to give stronger emphasis to ideas, as well as another main feature of Gabrieli's works: counterpoint. Voices often interact in a call and response fashion, which has a spectacular effect, especially when the two antiphonal groups are placed on either side of a church, creating a stereo effect.  Caludio Merula was a composer from the late renaissance period. The piece we listened to is called Canzon a 5, and is a counterpoint heavy composition for 5 voices. Much like the Gabrieli, the voices all interact in a very specific way, weaving in and out of one another for a strong counterpoint effect. This particular recording is by the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, and the period instruments sound totally different from their modern counterparts.  Next up, we h...
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