Arts and Entertainment

Axiom Brass provides a modern spin on classical chamber music

By Alexa Merriam ’17

On Nov. 15,  the brass chamber quintet Axiom Brass took the Wellin Hall stage.  The music group integrated modern and old styles to create their own signature sound. The group of young, sharply-dressed men in Axiom Brass includes trumpet players Dorival Puccini, Jr. and Kris Hammond, Matthew Oliphant on horn, Kevin Harrison on tuba and Orin Larson on trombone.

Puccini is one of the founding members of Axiom Brass, a group that draws many talented musicians from around the globe to auditions at its home base in Chicago. The trumpeter’s Brazilian origins imbue the quintet with a Latin flair, captured by the group’s passionate performance of two of Liduino Pitombeira’s 20th century “Brazilian Landscapes,” and an additional surprise Ptiombeira piece for their encore.

The program took the audience on a sequential journey from medieval and renaissance works to modern tangos, demonstrating the breadth of musicianship and verve that each player possessed and delivered to the audience continuously throughout the demanding two-hour set. Harrison’s arrangement of “Ave Verum Corpus” by the English renaissance composer William Byrd swept the audience away with haunting harmonies uniting for fleeting periods of time before breaking apart again.  The five voices communicated with one another to create sonorities that bounced off Wellin’s walls.   The seventeenth-century Concerto “Saint Marc Tomaso” was originally intended for strings with an oboe, making for an interesting translation to brass.  However, Puccini’s arrangement and the players’ performances were stunning. One would never guess that the piece was not originally composed for brass.

The music after the intermission transitioned to a more contemporary style, beginning with a four-movement piece by Victor Ewald, the upbeat Quintet No. 3, Op. 7 which brought the spirited energy of strings into the brass realm. The group closed with “Two Tangos” by Piazolla.  Both songs had a driving dance flare, with the tuba taking on a grungy, low brass sound.

The ensemble expertly maintained the audience’s interest, even when players had to take breathers between lengthy pieces or switch instruments due to the different timbres each piece called for.   Puccini, along with the help of tuba-player Harrison, exercised his background as an educator, engaging with the audience about each of the pieces. He imparted his own impressions of some of the songs he chose to arrange, as well as his own definition of a fugue.

One of the first noticeable aspects of the group’s performance was that they had iPads instead of sheets of music. Puccini talked about how the group began using iPads two years ago, and by turning pages using a Bluetooth pedal and keeping the next measure on screen, they can always know what is ahead.

Not only was Axiom Brass soothing to listen to musically, but their members were very funny and a joy to meet after the performance. In the middle of their set, Puccini announced, “I hope it’s okay if we take a moment to introduce ourselves,” and then the group proceeded to go around and shake hands with one another, and explained that they would love to talk more about themselves with the audience after the concert.

Proceeds from Axiom Brass’s CDs go toward “Music for All,” a program that provides educational concerts and recitals to maximize children’s learning and enjoyment of music in the Chicago area. Axiom Brass was a privilege to have at Wellin Hall Their ability to honor musical traditions from renaissance madrigals to modern tangos proved their incredible versatility.

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