La Chasse Au Dragon

Ensemble De Cuivres Valaisan
Conducter: Christophe Jeanbourquin
FAB Recordings 2002 - 08
Total Playing Time: 73 mins approx

~ Buy with 4barsrest shopping

Sometimes when you watch a particular sporting event, a touch of disappointment comes in, as it has not lived up to expectation. You want to be entertained with plenty of action and get the odd moment when the event sparked into life, and overall you are left a touch disappointed. Those feelings came across when listening to Switzerland's Ensemble De Cuivres Valaisan's 2002 release, La Chasse Au Dragon'.

The disc has moments of real quality from the players, but the acoustic of wherever the recording took place, doesn't half give the impression that the players were having to perform as if they were pulling a spoon through treacle at times.

In all fourteen items are presented giving around 70 minutes of music, and William Gordon's Laudes Domini which features snippets of the hymn tune ‘Now Thank We All Our God' gets things underway in a confident manner.

Cornet player Francois Roh seems full of beans in an enjoyable performance of Oskar Bohme's Scene De Ballet, which has been arranged by the bands conductor.

James Gourlay is not just an accomplished tuba player and conductor, but has arranged many items for band. The Swiss outfit presents James' arrangement of Bergamasca and it certainly comes off. The tradition British march slot goes to Ord Hume's Roll Away Bet, and whilst not necessarily at the tempo UK based bands might take it, it certainly does not suffer through lack of energy and commitment from the players.

Philip Sparke's single contribution on the disc is his Two Parts Invention performed by Euphonium players Dominique Robyr and Fabrice Southier. The players produce a nice sound, but throughout you sense the first instance of ‘the dragging the spoon through treacle scenario' described earlier.

The major work on the CD is Philip Wilby's ‘Jazz' Right from the very first note of the Euphonium; the performance suffers from the acoustic. The standard of playing is high and deserves praise, but you can't help feel it would be such a different performance in another environment.

Bruce Fraser's arrangement of the traditional Roumanian Dances is one of those pieces that do come to life, and you sense real enjoyment from the players. Mattieu Michel gives some nice reflective Flugel playing with a warm tone and sense of feeling in Peace of Mind. Dr Philip Wilby's ‘White Knuckle Ride' receives a rendition by Christophe Pralong that definitely encapsulates the thrill and excitement that goes with the buzz of living life on the edge.

Mambo by Etienne Crausaz and Harmattan by Andy Sheppard arranged by Dag Egil Nja certainly fit into the ‘need to listen to that again' to do it justice and certainly Harmattan brings memories back of some of the Acid Brass by Faireys not to long ago – make sure you have the remote handy for this one!

Dag Egil Nja features again in another arrangement of Dog Days, which features Christophe Clement in fine form on the trumpet.

La Chasse Au Dragon by Lee Maddeford was awarded the title of the whole CD. It is one of those pieces that grows on you. Featuring Flugel Matthieu Michel, Bass player, Sergi Bonvalot, and Marcell Papaux on percussion. It is jazzy in composition and definitely not dull during its eight minutes duration. It is certainly one of those pieces that gets the feet tapping and has you pressing the ‘repeat' button for another listen.

The disc concludes with Katchaturian's Symphony Number 3 arranged by Ray Farr. It is a typical Ray Farr arrangement, bold, bright and exciting, and in this rendition, brings a dramatic conclusion to the disc. Unfortunately 4BR's copy does not have any additional notes on the band or the music played which is a real shame. Without question this is one of Switzerland's top bands in fine form, but sadly some of the items do suffer it appears from the recording acoustic.

Malcolm Wood

~ Buy with 4barsrest shopping

^back to top