6th disc reviews
The 6th volume in our Naxos series is a homecoming: music by English composers of the 20th century.
This is what the press have had to say about it:
Cox and Knight display exquisite sensitivity to the originals; they ought to make a pretty penny moonlighting as professional arrangers and film score orchestrators. How these seven players capture and reconfigure sonic textures as disparate as Finzi’s choral masterpiece God is gone up and Elgar’s lush Serenade for Strings is little short of miraculous. Although my usual inclination is to prefer a composer’s original version (with an exception for Pictures at an Exhibition), these fabulous renditions could easily efface the Ur-texts from my memory forever. If you love brass music, get this pronto, and every other release in the series as well.
Fanfare Magazine, May 2019
Most of the previous albums by this English brass septet have come my way, and all have left me wanting more. Tone qualities are always pure and consistent, blend is impeccable, intonation flawless…
But this one is different. Maybe it’s because the music is English, so they feel motivated to play persuasively. Maybe it’s because the music is more complex and challenging than in previous outings. Whatever the reason, I rate this album much higher than the previous ones.
American Record Guide, March 2019
The lineup of three trumpets, three trombones and tuba is unexpectedly expressive in Elgar’s Serenade in E minor (originally for strings). If you like English pastoral music, and the sound of brass, this album is irresistible.
