COMPOSERS: Albeniz,Bizet,Grieg,Koetsier,Mozart,Piazzolla,Weill
LABELS: EMI
ALBUM TITLE: 10
WORKS: Various
PERFORMER: Tine Thing Helseth; tenThing
CATALOGUE NO: 0883262
EMI has chosen to show off its new signing, trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, not only as soloist on a disc of song arrangements (reviewed p68) but also as leader of the all-female Norwegian brass ensemble tenThing.
The group has drawn on the rich repertoire of ten-part brass music created by the pioneering Philip Jones Brass Ensemble for only one item, the neatly worked Symphony by the Dutch composer Jan Koetsier. For the rest, its programme consists of arrangements: from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera (almost the whole of the Kleine Dreigroschenmusik suite), Bizet’s Carmen, Piazzolla’s Four Seasons in Buenos Aires, and various gems of the piano repertoire. Jarle Storløkken’s arrangements are imaginative, and the playing is responsive to the range of idioms, well integrated and technically accomplished, with some especially brilliant trumpet work. All good fun, then – but it’s chiefly one for brass enthusiasts.
Anthony Burton