Brass Ensemble

Narbonne 1986

1st International Brass Quintet Competition

In 1986, Narbonne became a meeting place for the brass world, where an ambitious international competition brought emerging quintets alongside established masters.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Anonymous Brass Quintet Budapest

1st prize at the Narbonne International Brass Quintet Competition 1986

Founded by Budapest music students in 1981, the Anonymous Brass Quintet emerged as a distinctive Hungarian ensemble, combining individual artistry with remarkable unity.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Brass Players in Rome

Behind Rome’s musical prestige, RAI brass players describe shrinking salaries, insecure orchestral careers and the compromises required simply to remain musicians.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Part 2

Music in an American Frontier Communal Society

Aurora Colony

Music shaped daily life in Aurora’s communal colony, from civic ceremonies and political events to touring brass bands that carried its identity across the American West.

By Deborah M. Olsen

Part 1

Music in an American Frontier Communal Society

Aurora Colony

In a German communal settlement on the Oregon frontier, bands, choirs and original compositions shaped daily life as strongly as faith, work and education.

By Deborah M. Olsen

Snapshot: the American Brass Quintet in Europe

Report on the American Brass Quintet’s tour in Europe, highlighting performances, reception and the ensemble’s role in chamber brass music.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Transcription fundamentals

Between Bach fugues and Mozart concertos, Ralph Sauer questions where brass transcription renews a work — and where it merely imitates.

By Ralf Sauer

The first european horn symposium

A week in Trossingen brought leading horn players, Mozart debates, natural-horn controversies and lasting friendships at a landmark European gathering.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Special Finland

The brass band tradition in Finland

Finland’s brass-band tradition grew from imperial reform into a nationwide phenomenon, before an equally systematic transformation brought the era to an end.

By Holger Fransman

Special Finland

Brass achieves academic respectability

Once treated as marginal, Finland’s brass septet tradition entered academic research, challenging where folk practice ends and music history begins.

By Kauko Karjalainen

Special Hungary

Barcs 1984

First International Brass Ensemble Competition

A small Hungarian town became a testing ground for brass chamber music, where young ensembles showed how quickly the discipline was coming of age.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Individuality and Uniformity in Brass Players

As international standards reshape brass playing, musical individuality risks giving way to imitation, leaving tradition, ensemble work and personal conviction at stake.

By Hans-Joachim Drechsler

Special Hungary

Brass Chamber Music in Hungary

Ancient horns, military signals and postwar ensembles meet in a Hungarian brass tradition shaped as much by education and composers as by performers.

By Frigyes Varasdy

Women and brass: 3 Portraits

Barbara Stone, Betty Anderson, Kate Kaminga

Three British and Dutch conductors moved from brass band performance to leadership roles, confronting a scene still largely shaped by male traditions.

By Markus S. Bach

Empire Brass Quintet

Portrait in brief

From New York to Boston, five brass players built a chamber music identity rooted in Ewald, early music and a string-quartet approach to ensemble sound.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Viktor Venglowski

Musician and Teacher

From the Leningrad Philharmonic to the Conservatoire, one trombonist shaped repertoire, ensembles and generations of players across the Soviet Union.

By Sergej Gorovoj

Philip Jones

Interview

From South London bands to the Philharmonia, Philip Jones recalls his musical upbringing, orchestral life and the rise of brass ensembles in post-war Britain.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

A major chamber music work for brass?

Quintet, by Peter Maxwell Davies

A BBC studio session turns Maxwell Davies’s brass quintet into a test of virtuosity, balance and whether brass could claim a new place in chamber music.

By Thomas Aitken

Unknown Treasures for Trumpet Ensembles

Processional Music from 18th century Bavaria

Forgotten Bavarian monastery archives preserve hundreds of ceremonial trumpet works, where local tradition and practical performance survived long after their cultural world disappeared.

By Albert Hiller

Modern editions of original 17th-century brass ensemble music

Seventeenth-century brass music regained its place in the repertoire, but modern editions often altered the original keys, instrumentation and balance between voices.

By Klaus Winkler

Vladislav Mykhaylovich Blazhevich (1881-1942)

Trombonist, Composer and Teacher

From village band to the Moscow Conservatoire and the Bolshoi, a lifelong commitment to performance, teaching and wind music shaped Soviet trombone tradition.

By Viktor Sumerkin

John Fletcher

Interview

From brass bands to chamber ensembles, John Fletcher reflects on the rapid rise of young British tubists and the changing role of the instrument.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Mario Guarneri

Portrait in brief

From San Francisco to New York and Los Angeles, a trumpet career unfolds across major orchestras, recordings and teaching, alongside a sustained commitment to access and contemporary music.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Editorial

When careers pause and certainty fades, real progress begins in private, where discipline, friendship and chamber music reshape what it means to be a musician.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez