Overtures German Brass

The internationally acclaimed brass ensemble German Brass is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Such an important anniversary must be duly celebrated. That is why the ensemble will be going on a festive concert tour. Their album "Overtures", which will be released on September 6th, 2024 on the Berlin Classics label, promises a foretaste of this tour. A collection of brilliant overtures that have been masterfully adapted especially for German Brass.

The German Brass founding ensemble "Deutsches Blechbläser-quintett" originally consisted of just five members. Ten years after it was founded, the formation was expanded to include five additional musicians. The result is a large orchestral sound from the compact chamber music ensemble. German Brass has done pioneering work with arrangements and transcriptions of old and new music for pure brass instrumentation and has inspired the brass world lastingly. Their skill in carefully integrating new members into the ensemble without losing musical quality has enabled them to write a lasting success story. The current line-up brings together ten renowned musicians, each of whom is one of the best in their field. The individual arrangements and the breathtaking interplay of the top musicians make up the unique sound of German Brass.

The enormous repertoire ranges from classical masterpieces from the Baroque to the modern era, through the rousing sounds of musical greats such as Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller and Ray Charles, to impressive musical images from blockbusters such as "Pirates of the Caribbean". German Brass has already released over 20 albums, including "Around the World" (1989), "Spirit of Brass" (1994), "Bach 2000" (1999), "Power of Brass" (2005) and "Celebrating Wagner" (2013). The ensemble was awarded an ECHO for "Bach on Brass" (2016). For its latest recording, German Brass has dedicated itself entirely to the overture. The word overture comes from the French and means "opening". It is played at the beginning of an opera, ballet or concert program and is a kind of introduction. It gives the audience a glimpse of what is to follow on stage. Before the protagonists even enter the stage, Christoph Willibald Gluck's overture to "Alceste", for example, already tells of the Thessalian queen who offers her death to the gods in place of her doomed husband. In the overture to "Nabucco", Giuseppe Verdi refers to the story of the Hebrews' fight for freedom against the Babylonians by setting the melody of the famous prisoners' chorus to music. Many composers only write their overtures after the main work has been completed. The overture to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Magic Flute, for example, was written shortly before the premiere. The trademark of this piece is the imposing trombone chords that sound at the beginning. For Mozart, this was one reason why the overture was received "with so much applause". An invitation for German Brass to take a closer look at the work. The "Festive Overture" op. 96, composed by Dmitri Shostakovich for an anniversary celebration, also begins with brass fanfares. A more than fitting prelude to the 50th anniversary album.