Royal Danish Brass Ensemble

THE concert opened with grand stentorian chords on all 11 instruments (two trumpets, two comets, two horns, two tubas and three trombones), enthusiastically backed by the two percussion players. If this was Orologio's Intrada of 1597, as billed in the programme, then King Christian of Denmark must have been a cool cat; it was, however, a jazz encore played before the recital and no less extravagantly extrovert than the jazz encore which followed it.

Most of the arrangements for this large ensemble had been made by Mogens; Andresen; he also played the tenor tuba, provided some of the spoken introductions and presided benignly over what might best be called a musical party. The players were soberly clothed, there was no drunken misbehaviour, but a spirit of friendly fun was paramount - and the players enjoyment of Andresen's jazz orientated arrangements found a ready echo in the audience in the Droichead Arts Centre - recently.

The party was not without its solemn moments; the arrangement of Bach's Fugue in G minor BWV 578 received particularly warm applause, and Holmboe's Notater Op. 140, for three trombones and euphonium (tenor tuba), showed a delicacy of approach worthy of a string quartet.

Brian Boydell's Viking Lip Music Op 91, specially commissioned for this Irish tour of Royal Danish Brass by Music Network, was introduced by the composer in person. He had risen to the challenge of writing for this group and was confident his work would be enhanced by their skill. It is one of Boydell's most engaging compositions and made excellent use of the available sonorities, from piccolo trumpet to bass tuba, not forgetting the percussion.

There was virtuoso cornet playing, an improvised solo on bass trombone, a colourful use of percussion and much else, but it was the developments and transformations of tunes by Andresen that made the evening most entertaining.