Echo: Glory of Gabrieli

Echo - Glory of Gabrieli displays the Brass's more serious side with an album exploring the Baroque innovations pioneered by Gabrieli at Venice's Basilica San Marco. Because of the Basilica's unique design, which included two choir lofts separated by a cavernous interior, it was difficult for choirs to sing in unison. Gabrieli used this to his advantage in his music for brass, creating works where one brass choir echoes or responds to the other -- a technique that proved immensely popular in his time and is recreated in our own by Canadian Brass.

In the words of Canadian Brass founding member Chuck Daellenbach, “Most Gabrieli-era recordings are blast fests -- fun to be part of, but not that wonderful to listen to, and certainly not authentic. When we started this project, I urged all participants, starting with the adapters/arrangers, to exercise intelligent authenticity. Simply stated, I wanted a result that took advantage of modern instruments without sacrificing the musical intent of the composers. Consequently, we observed as best we could the scholarship that abounds regarding this period, and combined it with advances in instrument quality, performer standards, and of course, state-of-the-art recording techniques.”