18-piece brass ensemble takes on Howarth’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece, as well as music by Gunther Schuller and Bjork
Chamber Music on the Fox closes out its 10th season with a nontraditional twist on the classical repertoire. This unique opportunity marks the first time Chicago-based 3rd Coast Brass will come together as a large-scale symphonic brass ensemble. Brass legend Mark Fisher will conduct the 18-piece ensemble, consisting of notable Chicago area musicians including members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival, and CMOTF Artistic Director Mark Fry.
The program’s feature piece is a nod to the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble — which is credited with giving brass musicians visibility outside of an orchestra setting — as the symphonic brass ensemble performs Elgar Howarth’s arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s famous “Pictures At An Exhibition.” Originally composed as a piano suite by Mussorgsky in 1874 (and performed as such by Natasha Paremski on the CMOTF series in 2019), English composer Howarth arranged the masterpiece for brass ensemble 103 years later, in 1977, which was recorded the same year by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.
Also on the program is Schuller’s epic Symphony for Brass and Percussion, and Björk’s Overture to “Dancer in the Dark”, a 2000 film that also starred the singer/composer.
”The pieces we are playing in this concert are both interesting and special to me in that the Gunther Schuller’s Symphony for Brass is very unusual,” said Matthew Gaunt, tuba player for 3rd Coast Brass. “Schuller wrote this work specifically to show brass instruments doing things unlike what they normally do in band and orchestra.
“The ’Pictures At An Exhibition’ is a really famous work that everybody knows and for me to play this particular arrangement is really exciting because it is one of the first recordings that my tuba teacher gave to me when I was a kid that got me excited about playing the tuba. So, I am really excited to play this with some fantastic musicians.”
CMOTF co-founder, artistic director, and bass trombone player Mark Fry grew up listening to the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble’s many recordings, as well as performing several arrangements by them. “I was quite literally shell shocked when I first heard their ‘Pictures’ the first time. I am thrilled to share this remarkable arrangement with Chamber Music on the Fox audiences in May. It is very fitting that CMOTF will have programmed both the original piano version and this very special arrangement for the symphonic brass ensemble on our series,” Fry said.
The concerts will be held Friday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the Woodstock Opera House; Sunday, May 19, at 2:30 p.m. at The Venue in Aurora, Ill.; and Monday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Elgin, Ill.
NOTE: Biographies of all 18 musicians performing in this concert, along with program information, is available at https://www.chambermusiconthefox.org/program-pictures-at-an-exhibition.
