Here are two fun discs in which a quintet of utterly superb Italian
brass players romp through arrangements of light and cinema classics.
I am not going to go into detail but let’s put it this
way - you will be entertained, amused, impressed and even outraged
by excessive sentimentality or the occasional whoops and shouts
of the players in each of the two discs. Of the two I prefer
the first. The second is a shade too light to be comfortable
for me.
How on earth was it that I discovered the Gomalan? After all
it is hardly my usual fare. It came about through chance discovery
when wandering aimlessly through
YouTube.
What caught my attention was their arrangement (made by Marco
Pierobon and J-P. Bouchard) of Williams’
Raiders of
the Lost Ark. An astonishing piece of playing it has wit
and flair and rather improbably does not sound at all scaled
down.
As with the two under review here the new recording was made
in a church near Cremona with a wonderful acoustic. It was made
- we are assured - with only 5 panoramic mics, one audio card
and taken down direct onto hard disk. There’s no overdubbing,
re-balancing, reverbs or compression. It’s just five brass
instruments and the acoustic of the church of Palazzo Pignano.
They've recently finished their third project which has been
edited and mastered, and they’re asking the big-name-labels
if there's any interest in it. If it is picked up by one of them
it will be under the title
Moviebrass and will include
transcriptions from soundtrack music by Leonard Bernstein (
West
Side Story) John Williams (
Indiana Jones Theme,
Space
Brass), Samuel Barber (
Adagio for Strings) and others.
I am rather disappointed that they have not picked up on the
stratospheric excesses of the trumpet-lavish theme for
Dynasty.
Perhaps some time soon.
Gomalan Brass comprise
Marco Pierobon, principal trumpet of the Maggio Musicale Opera
Orchestra, Florence; Marco Braito, principal trumpet of the Orchestra
della Toscana, Florence; Nilo Caracristi, 3rd horn of the Arena
Opera Orchestra, Verona; Gianluca Scipioni, principal trombone
of the Regio Theater, Turin and Oswald Prader, trainee/probationer
tuba of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra.
Crack playing. Highly skilled arrangements worthy of Philip Jones
at his most unbuttoned. Jollity, the odd tear and exultation.
Rob Barnett
Gomalan Brass Quintet 
