CHICAGO GARGOYLE BRASS AND ORGAN ENSEMBLE

• Carlyle Sharpe: Flourishes (excerpt)

“The balance between the players is excellent... This is due to some excellent writing and the highly skilled performers which make up the ensemble... The CD is stylishly packaged with extensive liner notes and attractive photos.”

Pan Pipes, Sigma Alpha Iota [Spring 2016]

“The parts [of the program] cohere into a whole that feels big without ever feeling heavy. Why, Peter Meechan’s “Velvet Blue” could almost pass for jazz.”

Arsenio Orteza, World Magazine [May 2016]

"The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble...must be every organ-and-brass ensemble composer's dream. They play their solo riffs like angels, they trump along with a resolute raucous beat when energy and martial notes are sounded, and they play the lollipops with as much gusto as they do the conservative modern stuff... The [recorded] sound of the ensemble and organist is spatially imposing and grand"

Laurence Vittes, Gramophone [February 2016]

“Jared Stellmacher is the fine organist, and these are good brass players. Nice mix of transcriptions and new works.”

Kilpatrick, American Record Guide [March/April 2016]

“lustrous playing… excellent recorded sound.”

Huntley Dent, Fanfare [March/April 2016]

“a sonic adventure... The mixture of beautifully-blended playing...provide for an extremely enjoyable listening experience... performed marvellously well... considerable blend and fantastic dynamic range... handles virtuosity with flair and poise... The sound of the brass is round and uniform... exquisite attention to all of the musical details...”

Evan Conroy, International Trombone Association Journal [September 2016]

“this is a resoundingly good disc... Throughout the disc the organ playing of Jared Stellmacher is impeccable, while the brass and percussion playing are of the very highest standard. Recording is done with the highest level of professionalism. A must for any brass lover.”

Colin Clarke, Fanfare [March/April 2016]

“[the Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble] is an ensemble of front-rank caliber in every respect, and this is a most auspicious debut CD... As usual, MSR provides excellent recorded sound and a high-quality booklet with informative notes and color photos, though brief bios of the individual instrumentalists and additional personal details about the various contemporary composers would also be desirable. But make no mistake: this is a disc of substantial fare, performed and produced with style and flair, that deserves to find many enthusiastic listeners. Let’s hope for an equally worthy sequel, and soon!”

James A. Altena, Fanfare [March/April 2016]

“Just like chocolate and coffee, music for brass and organ is one of those confections that seems to be made for each other. So perhaps it is no wonder that a new recording of the Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble sounds terrific.”

James Bash, Northwest Reverb [January 2016]

“The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble bring great musicianship and terrific flair to this varied program that gives much enjoyment. All the recordings are clear, spacious and first rate, as well as ideally balanced.”

Bruce Reader, The Classical Reviewer [January 2016]

“an intriguing release... interesting juxtapositions works”

Mark J. Estren, InfoDad.com [December 2015]

“If you crave the enormous and sometimes enormously subtle massing of [brass and organ], there is a new CD out that puts you in front of an excellent group… They tackle a wide variety of music [and] are in fine fettle, joined now and again by a timpanist... The modern works are tonal and very idiomatic for the instrumentation. Everything fits together well. The fabulous musicality of the Gargoyle Ensemble is matched by a bright, exciting recorded sound that does justice to the dynamics and grandeur of the performances... It is some repertoire you will not always know and so it is a real addition for those who need to clear out the cobwebs in one's listening space with something very new! This is an excellent disk and great fun as well. Grab it and get prepared for some fireworks of sound.”

Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Review [November 2015]

“In what has been described accurately as a demonstration-class CD, the Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble under founder and artistic director Rodney Holmes gives us a very attractive program. Combining arrangements by Craig Garner of music from the operatic and symphonic repertoire with engaging new works by today's composers, this is an offering that every audiophile owes it to himself to audition.”

Phil Muse, Audio Society of Atlanta [October 2015]

ORGANS
2006 Rodgers 1038
Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, Wheaton, Illinois

1982 Casavant Frères, Limitée, Opus 3544
First United Church, Oak Park, Illinois

Stephen Squires, Coach and Recording Session Conductor
Recorded by Atelier HudSonic, Chicago | Producer and Engineer: Hudson Fair


The Chicago Gargoyle Brass began in 1992 as a chamber group of faculty and students at the University of Chicago, whose campus architecture boasts a charming variety of the ensemble’s namesake. By 2006, the ensemble had slowly professionalized and established a residency in the western suburbs at a major church with a full-time professional organist. Over the next five years, the group transformed itself into a specialized brass and organ concert ensemble comprised of classically trained musicians, performing a wide variety of repertoire in an equally diverse range of settings. Well into its third decade, the Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble maintains its position at the cutting edge of music for brass and organ, commissioning and performing new arrangements and compositions for brass and organ. [www.GargoyleBrass.com]
  CARLYLE SHARPE (b.1965)
FLOURISHES (2005, 2010)

PRELUDE, ELEGY AND SCHERZO (2012)
Prelude
Elegy
Scherzo

GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813-1901)
Arranged by Craig Garner
LIBIAMO NE’ LIETI CALICI from La Traviata (1853, 2013)

WILLIAM WHITE (b.1983)
THE DWARF PLANETS (2012)
Haumea
Pluto
Ceres
Eris
Makemake

DAVID MARLATT (b.1973)
EARTHSCAPE (2011)

JAROMÍR WEINBERGER (1896-1967)
Arranged by Craig Garner
POLKA AND FUGUE from Schwanda, the Bagpiper (1926, 2013)
Polka
Fugue

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Arranged by Craig Garner
ADAGIO AND MAESTOSO from Symphony No.3 “Organ” (1886, 2012)
Adagio
Maestoso

PETER MEECHAN (b.1980)
VELVET BLUE (2012)



MSR Classics