4BR continues its partnership with Presto Music, the UKs leading e-commerce site for classical music, with six more fantastic CDs to add to any essential listening collection of brass.
You can find out more on the links provided.
Italiana! — The Philharmonic Brass & Riccardo Muti
This 2025 release brings together the brass sections of the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of one modern day conducting greats.
Muti stated; "This collaboration has not only brought me immense joy but has also enriched my experience as a musician. We are on a mission to create something truly special."
The are arrangements of Giazotto, Martucci, Respighi ('Roman Festivals' and 'Pines of Rome', Rossini ('William Tell' and 'Italian Girl in Algiers') and Verdi ('Aida' and 'Nabucco') — each stunningly played.
To enjoy:
Transatlantic — Onyx Brass
Released in June 2025, the recording features pieces for the core quintet of Onyx Brass with works for extended brass forces, plus piano with Florence Price's 'Octet for Brasses and Piano'.
Two Benjamin Britten premières bring long-forgotten pieces out of the Britten Pears Archive, in Aldeburgh, into the sunlight. Alongside these new discoveries are performances of established favourites by Sir Malcolm Arnold and Joseph Horovitz,
To enjoy:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9774591--transatlantic
British Music for Brass — Philip Jones Brass Ensemble
Part of The British Collection by London Records on the Decca label, this recording released in 1991 features the ensemble conducted Elgar Howarth, Howard Snell and John Iveson.
It is taken from a trio of recording sessions from 1970, 1976 and 1979 and features works by Bliss, Britten, Arnold, Tippett, Brian and Walton — each played with superb precision, balance and cultured musicality by a remarkable brass ensemble.
To enjoy:
https://www.prestomusic.com/aff/1029/classical/products/8609691--british-music-for-brass
A Tribute to Elgar, Delius & Holst — Black Dyke Mills Band
Recorded in 1985 by Chandos, this is a tribute to a trio of English compositional masters aided by the expert arrangements of Gordon Langford and the MD himself.
The selection from the first and second 'The Wand of Youth' suites by Elgar are played with finesses and incredible virtuosity. Handel's 'In the Lord put I my trust' is a majestic plea for salvation, whilst Holst's 'The Perfect Fool' is poke of a stick at operatic pomposity.
Delicacy permeates the Delius 'March: Caprice' with Elgar's 'Bavarian Highlands' a captivating portrait of Germanic characterisation.
To enjoy:
https://www.prestomusic.com/aff/1029/classical/products/7969328--a-tribute-to-elgar-delius-holst
Maurice Andre plays Trumpet Concertos
Although originally released in 1986 on the Deutsche Grammophon label, the recordings of Handel, Haydn, M Haydn, Telemann, Vivaldi and Viviani span the period when the Belgian was at the very apex of his powers — starting with a gloriously finessed performance of Haydn's iconic 'Eb flat major' concerto from 1966.
It is followed by the splendour of the younger Haydn's 'Concerto in D Major' and the burnished account of Handel's 'Oboe Concerto' also from the same year.
A decade later and there are remarkable performances of Vivaldi's 'Concerto for 2 Trumpets' and Telemann's 'Concerto-Sonata', Handel's 'Oboe Concerto No.3', and the stately majesty of Viviani's 'Sonata No. 1'.
To enjoy:
Brass from the Masters: Vol. 2 — Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Re-released on the Chandos label in 2006 (originally recorded in 1998), the CD features and outstanding band performing cornerstone elements of the repertoire with an authentic appreciation of their essential DNA.
The readings of Major Peter Parkes on Eric Ball's 'Kensington Concerto', Bantock's 'The Frogs of Aristophanes' and George Lloyd's 'Diversions on a Bass Theme' are noble in stature, whilst Garry Cutt brings stylistic nuance to 'Henry the Fifth' by Vaughan Williams, 'Dean Goffin's 'Rhapsody for Brass' and Holst's 'A Moorsdie Suite'.
To enjoy:
https://www.prestomusic.com/aff/1029/classical/products/7998807--brass-from-the-masters-vol-2
