Album: Chaconne Brass, Dancing in the Dark (Deux-Elles)

Chaconne Brass continue to stretch the possibilities of the brass quintet on Dancing In The Dark with a broad, inventive programme. Cecilia MacDowall's "Tango Oscuro" is a suitably dark Piazzolla tribute, while trumpeter Mark Kesel's "Nachna" integrates Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari's tabla and Chaconne's delightful staccato interplay of horns around a cajoling, persuasive melody – something lacking in the longer, comparatively arid "Quintet op. 79" of Danish composer Vagn Holmboe. The standout piece here is "A Lullaby" by the ensemble's other trumpeter Torbjörn Hultmark, which uses live electronics and a backing-tape bricolage of ghostly voices as the foundation for a series of sparse, measured brass sonorities: an absorbing, lively experience.

Download this A Lullaby; Nachna; Tango Oscuro