John Gardner: Music for Brass and Organ

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Catalogue No: TOCC0048
EAN/UPC: 5060113440488
Release Date: 2011-01-17
Composer: John Gardner
Artists: Cosmopolitan Brass, Paul Archibald, Stephen King

The British composer John Gardner (b. 1917) has been astonishingly prolific, writing 249 opus numbers in his sixty-year career as composer, conductor and teacher. His music – basically tonal and always impeccably crafted – is characterised by charm, grace and humour. Gardner’s musical fingerprints come from his love of jazz, Renaissance and Baroque procedures and his mastery of imitative counterpoint. He generally uses established musical forms but invests them with a quirky and distinctive harmonic idiom. This CD explores his rich output for brass and organ, from the elegant Theme and Variations, Op. 7, of 1951 to the lusty Five Dances for Organ, Op. 179, written in 1988.

Paul Archibald, trumpet
Cosmopolitan Brass
Stephen King, organ

Listen To This Recording:

  1. Flourish for a Wedding, Op. 162 (1983)
  2. Easter Fantasy, Op. 232 (1997)
  3. Theme and Variations for Brass Quartet, Op. 7 (1951)

  4. Theme: Andante flessible
  5. Variation 1: Un poco meno mosso
  6. Variation 2: Allegretto
  7. Variation 3: Allegro giocoso
  8. Variation 4: Marcia lenta
  9. Variation 5: Marcia rapida
  10. Variation 6: HabaÒera
  11. Variation 7: Misterioso
  12. Variation 8: Finale – Allegro vivace
  13. Five Dances for Organ, Op.179 (1988)

  14. 1. Lavolta
  15. 2. Pavan
  16. 3. Jig
  17. 4. Lament
  18. 5. Fling
  19. Sonata da Chiesa sopra un tema di Claudio Monteverdi, Op. 136 (1976, rev. 1977)

  20. I. Maestoso
  21. II. Allegro
  22. III. Lento e piano
  23. IV. Allegro ma non troppo
  24. Sonata Secolare, Op. 117 (1973)

  25. I. Allegro con brio
  26. II. Ciacona (largo)
  27. III. Finale (vivace)

1 review for John Gardner: Music for Brass and Organ

  1. :

    Among the many composers whose music does not get the exposure or the reputation that it deserves surely John Gardner is one of the most deserving. […] So for that reason alone this disc should be warmly welcomed, but when in addition to the quality of the music, performances, recording and presentation are all first rate the achievement and the attraction of the disc are all the greater. […]

    All of his music that I have heard shares the characteristics of being above all musically alive, of having something to say and saying it interestingly and economically. […]

    I knew little of this music before listening to this disc but it has given me immense pleasure and I am very keen to get to know more of this strangely under-performed and recorded composer.’

    —John Sheppard, MusicWeb International

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