First off, thanks much to Dave for providing a very thorough review of this album. It should be noted that only one of the tracks on this album is available in iTunes. So, Dave's review highlighting that this album had a complete rendition of the Bach Cello Suite #2 (one of my major playing objectives over the next year or so) certainly caught my attention.
I was very excited about the prospects of an unaccompanied album, especially one with a complete Bach cello suite. One of my favorite trombone albums is by Christian Lindberg titled "Unaccompanied," which uses the same concept. And like that album, "Alene" by Bente Illevold did not disappoint! On this album, I really enjoyed the Telemann 12 Fantasies and Paganini's famous Caprice No. 24 - very well done with great fresh interpretations. Several more modern pieces here were written for Bente, including the Dance Suite for Solo Euphonium, Inspired by Blue, and the hauntingly beautiful Lockdown Lullaby - all of these were exceptionally well done. Her own composition "Arv" was also included in the album, and I really enjoyed this one also.
However, first and foremost, I purchased this album because it included a complete recording of the Bach Cello Suite #2 - I'm not aware of too many complete recordings of a suite done on wind instruments - Christian Lindberg's rendition of Suite #2 transposed up and performed on alto trombone and Marion Verbruggen's complete suites on the recorder come to mind. I found Chris Olka's excellent rendition on YouTube with his 6/4 tuba at an ITEC a couple of years ago as well. But this one was done on euphonium. Bente's renditions exceeded all of my expectations. I completely agree with Dave that trying to cut notes off prematurely to take a quick breath can detract from a performance (for me at least). To get around that challenge, one approach that I think that works well is to use some degree of rubato to make the breath choices make sense - and Bente takes this approach to the next level. I loved her unique ideas here, and I will be incorporating many of these into my own approaches moving forward.
Overall, this is a wonderful album - two very enthusiastic thumbs up!
- Scott
Euphoniums: Dillon 967, Monzani MZEP-1150S, Dillon 1067 (kid’s horn)
Bass Trombones: Greenhoe GB5-3G, Getzen 1052FDR, JP232
King Jiggs P-bone