A couple really fine Nonesuch dandies here for my respected colleague Don, the man we know as "Sacqueboutier." Joshua Rifkin leads the finest brass players of London, c. 1972, in music of Biber and the early baroque. Yes, Philip Jones, John Iveson, John Wilbraham are here in all their glory!
The conductor/scholar/musicologist Rifkin is one of the leading proponents of period performance and practice in the world. His work, albeit controversial in some circles, has led musicians and public alike to look at perennial favorites in an entirely new light. I remember hearing Rifkin's take on Bach's B Minor Mass with one to a part and, well, being floored by the detail and supporting lines that were often buried in larger scale performances. Rifkin's way with his wide repertoire of music from the middle ages through the classical period is most always characterized by freshness and vitality.
The baroque works by Speer and Pezel take me back to the days of playing through the Robert King Brass editions at summer music camp. Brass players remember the old Robert King catalog and his delightful, and inexpensive, arrangements of music from the renaissance and baroque, al scored for modern brass instruments. I lived in the town over from King's business and would often go by for a purchase or two. King's business was almost exclusively mail since it was located in a large basement area beneath a barber shop with no signage on the building! One of my most vivid memories of the place was the picture of Mr King with Maurice Andre, taken in the shop itself. Wow!
Stereo FLACS with notes included.
DOWNLOAD BAROQUE FANFARES
DOWNLOAD BIBER
