It's hard to believe that its twenty years since a handful of Austrian brass musicians, largely fresh from college, gave their first public concert in Josef Mnozil's tavern in Vienna.
Back then welcome payment came in the form of the brass player's staple currency - beer; thanks to their colloquial concoctions of traditional music and polkas that was to rapidly evolve into the genre-hopping, dazzling virtuosity and gloriously pythonesque humour that has since become the Mnozil copyright trademark.
Brewery
Today they pack out concert halls around the globe (you would need your own brewery to pay them in beer nowadays), boldly taking brass music into new territories in more ways than one: astonishingly clocking up nearly two million 'You Tube' hits for their unique take on ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
That number will have risen even more as they dusted off their tribute to Freddie and the lads with a reprise that brought the house down at the end of this packed out event (to call it a concert would to do it a disservice) at Huddersfield Town Hall.
Happy Birthday
With Diggle Band giving a fine account of themselves to open (sporting their own legends in James Shepherd and David Pogson), the anarchic Austrians launched into their celebratory show, ‘Happy Birthday’; an action packed, high energy compilation of just some of their most famous numbers and routines spanning those two amazing performance decades.
From the music of 'Papa' Haydn played on recorder through the unusual physical medium of the right nostril, via a disco routine of Earth, Wind and Fire, the Bee Gees' ‘Stayin' Alive’ and Michael Jackson's ‘Thriller’, it was simply enthralling.
Best
Zoltan Kiss's drunken ranting in ‘Hungarian Schnapsodie’ and a glorious skit on the Olympics and ‘Chariots of Fire’ was musical comedy at its best, as the audience lapped up the surreal antics of a group whose humour incorporates a mesmerising range of international influences.
Yet, as is always the case with Mnozil, amongst the beautifully judged comedic timing, it was the sublime musical magnificence of the seven musicians that left the lasting impression.
Evocative
Erik Satie's meditation on a Greek vase, ‘Gnoissienne’, featuring Gerard Fussl on trombone and Thomas Gansch on trumpet, made for an evocative and relaxed interlude, whilst the nuanced tones of Gansch were fully exploited and contrasted so effectively with his high-wire trumpet playing in ‘The Streets of San Francisco’.
Roman Rindberger's mellifluous flugel on ‘Moon River’ and a high octane account of Weather Report's ‘Birdland’, neatly summed up the sheer diversity of repertoire and awe inspiring sound generated by Austria's very own ‘Magnificent Seven’.
And as if that wasn't enough, the close harmony singing of Jimmy Hugh's ‘I Can't Give You Anything But Love’ proved to be a perfect demonstration of the seemingly inexhaustible talents of these extraordinarily gifted musicians.
Baying
By the time Mnozil launched into ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ the audience was already baying for more, with the last of several encores, Carly Simon's ‘Nobody Does it Better’, providing a fitting end to a hugely entertaining display by the indefatigable and undefinable Austrians.
Many happy 20th birthday returns Mnozil.
Life wouldn't be quite the same without you.
Chris Thomas
