Anthony HOLBORNE. "5 Pieces" (x2) - PER GADE's INTERNATIONAL BRASS QUINTET. JAPAN 1982

Anthony HOLBORNE (c. 1545 - 1602). "5 Pieces" from the collecion "Pavans, Galliards, Almains and other short Airs" - PER GADE's INTERNATIONAL BRASS QUINTET. JAPAN 1982
Holborne was one of the most obscure composers of the English Elizabethan period. He was a courtier to Queen Elizabeth I (his contemporary, the composer John Dowland, refer to him as "the most famous and perfect artist, Anthony Holborne, gentleman user to the sacred Elizabeth, the late Queen of England"). Holborne was a lutenist and minor poet of both Latin and English verse. Athough several of his compositions are scattered in MMS and printed collections, Holborne is mainly known for two works: "The Cittharn School (London 1597)" and "Pavans, Galliards, Almains and other short Airs for viols, violins, or other musical winde instruments (London 1599). - The title of the last wrok is not as ungrammatical as first appears. "Other" is used here as a fairly common Elizabethian sense of "or else". The instruments mentioned in the title perhaps represent a compromise between Holborn's sensitive courtly style and the practical fact that the dedicatee was Sir Richard Champernowne, a Gentleman who maintained a proficiant little wind band,
All pieces has been taken from the above mentioned collection of short pieces written in five parts. They are all "dance pieces" in the dance form which later in history became the single parts of the form we today are called "The Suite".

1. The Marie-Gold (No. 8, Galliard).
2. Patiencia (No. 25, Pavane).
3. The Choice (No. 59, Allemande).
(4. Last Will and Testamente (No. 53, Pavan)).
5. The New-Years Gift (No. 6, Galliard).

THE GALLIARD: Is a Italian stately walking dance in duple time, often paired with a springing dance in triple. It was also the after-dance to the pavan, having six-beats (five steps and one leap) and with certain accents to be performed the right way..
THE ALLEMANDE: probably one of the oldest dances, was originated in Germany (hence the name) and passed to France and England about 1550. Allemande was a processional dance, written simply and smooth in duple time, often starting with a upbeat and treated contrapuntally.
THE PAVANE: An ancient dance (the name comes from the Latin "Pave" which means peacock) and presumable of Italian origin, but which may have its roots in Spain. In a moderate duple time, it was a stately processional dance, sharply contrasting in the mood to the Galliard. The meaning "peacock" possibly has its origin from the dancers cerimonial movements while performing the dance, as well as the garments worn by the performers.

PER GADE's INTERNATIONAL BRASS QUINTET. JAPAN 1982
This recording was found recently. It is from a concert in Japan and was recorded on a cassette tape. No changes have been added to the recording, no notes has been replaced in digital re-mastering and all that magic. It is a "here and now" performance! What you hear is what you get. It is a live recording from a two hours concert: real life here and now!
___________________________________________________

Professor Per Gade also told us the following, when we asked him:
- "This International Brass Quintet was the very first professional Brass Quintet in Japan, established in 1981. Each of the five members were very busy with their main jobs every day, in symphony orchestras, or as professors at Music Colleges/Academies, so we did not really have time for practicing together. So before each concert we held a serious meeting with a pot of coffee and sorted things out in a hurry, but in a highly professional way. Then a couple of hours before the concert, at the sound test, we took care of running through some important or difficult lines, all in a serious way. So what you have here is very much sight reading on the spot, in a live performance". - I personally beleive one must be well prepared and then alto take chances in expression, in the concert. Music is a "floating untouchable and unpredictable Fine Art". One never knows what will happen the next second in a live performance, unlike a painter who can change all his pictures 5 minutes before he is doing a exebition". Music is like trapez work without security net, so if one is falling down...."

MEMBERS:
Allan Cox (USA), trumpet (professor).
Yukihiro Sekiyama, trumpet (NHK Symph. Orch. Japan).
Yoshi Ohno, french horn (Tokyo Philharmonic Orch. Japan).
Per Gade, (COSMOPOLITAN) trombone (slide & valve trombones) (professor).
SLIDE TROMBONE ON THIS PIECE OF MUSIC.
Hiroyuki Yasumoto, tuba (Tokyo Metropolitan Symph. Orch.).