This album is available exclusively in DSD and DXD, it is not available on SACD
“Despite its loudmouthed reputation, there is so much beauty in the bass trombone. The aim of this album is to showcase all the best sides of the bass trombone: robust yet fragile, colourful and flexible, juicy bass notes and beautiful melodies. By commissioning and playing new works and allying myself with great friends on trombone, organ, harp and piano, I have attempted to give new colour to the bass trombone repertoire. I hope the album can be of inspiration for many future bass trombone recitals.”
– Clare Farr
Clare was born in Stockport, England in 1975. Her musical career started at an early age playing piano and violin. It was after her family’s move to Jørpeland, Norway in 1989 that she opted for the louder, more social life of the bass trombonist. Following bachelor studies in Stavanger and Manchester, she graduated with a master’s degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music in 2001. Her teachers included Leif Værum Larsen, Aline Nistad and Ingemar Roos.
In her subsequent years as a freelance musician, she held long-term positions with the Oslo Philharmonic and Norrköping Symphony Orchestras, and regularly worked with many Norwegian and European orchestras and ensembles. She combined her work as a freelance musician with the position of General Manager of the Norwegian National Youth Orchestra until 2012.
Clare has been Principal Bass Trombone of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra since 2013. She is a founding member of the Norwegian Trombone Ensemble and is active as a conductor, teacher and adjudicator in the Norwegian brass and wind band community.
Clare Farr – bass trombone
The Norwegian Trombone Ensemble
Inger-Lise Ulsrud – organ
Sverre Riise – trombone
Sidsel Walstad – harp
Petter Winroth – trombone
Sigstein Folgerø – piano
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 00:59:38
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | LWC1242 |
| Qualities | |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Release Date | August 19, 2022 |
Press reviews
Positive Feedback
Clare Farr’s “Loudmouthed Beauty” is an album filled with music for bass trombone. How often do we get this sonic treat?!? Usually a bass trombone is hidden somewhere down in the nether reaches of the orchestra’s sonic stage. Well, not on this album—here it is front and center in all it’s deep blatty glory as Farr treats us to an exploration of the full range of this intriguing brass instrument. I can’t begin to imagine the breath control required to play these pieces—just amazing. And, yet, she shows us just how delicate this massive instrument can also be…
The works included are varied, interesting, and in many cases quite fun. If you are able to sample but a single track from this album (which you can do in full track 48kHz samples on the NativeDSD site), let me suggest you listen to the trombone duo, “Conversation,” track 10. Here you have trombone and bass trombone speaking back and forth to each other, just as friends might. It is a nice demonstration of the timbre, flexibility and range of these instruments.
To say that I enjoyed this album immensely is simply and understatement. Heartily recommended.
HiFi Critic
From the exuberant cover image to the subtitle ‘Concert Pieces for Bass Trombone’, it’s clear we’re in for something rather different here, and from the off this selection of pieces written for Farr’s weapon of choice both surprises and delights. The recording – in DXD 352.8kHz/24bit – is sensational, both capturing the sheer low-frequency energy of the instrument and all its harmonic subtleties, and Farr’s playing is superb, from the sheer punch she can deliver through to the finer nuances. And the music here, almost by definition unfamiliar, is consistently intriguing, including both repertoire pieces for bass trombone – yes, there are such things – and works commissioned by Farr for this recital.
Ballade.No
Loudmouthed Beauty unfolds the solo repertoire for bass trombone. The works range from recent contemporary music to classical concerts and the obligatory Swedish folk tune with harp accompaniment. “Song til Lotta” is playlist-friendly, and it is no surprise that it is precisely this piece that is at the top of Farr’s plays on Spotify.
Bente Leiknes Thorsen’s “Lush Darkness” is the most interesting of the newer works, with its Arne Nordheim-like “snarky language“. Ernst Sachs’s Concerto in F major is a festive affair from the truly happy 19th century. Organist Inger-Lise Ulsrud has registered the church organ to circus mode, and makes the music swing like a carousel. Alexij Lebedev’s Concert No. 1 from 1947 is the finest piece on the album. The concerto was originally written for tuba, but nevertheless showcases the full expressive range of the bass trombone, and in an extremely musical way.
It is clear throughout Loudmouthed Beauty that bass trombonist Clare Farr has a big personality. But she’s not just big-mouthed. She has an absolutely beautiful intonation, and otherwise full musical control on this unruly instrument.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.