The reasons why Empire Brass are possibly the world's finest quintet are as transparent as their playing. Man for man, their virtuosity seems next to inconceivable. Music for music, they can play straight or jazz, they can transform 13th-century street sarabandes into whirling 20th-century dances, keeping the essence of the original.
The Empire Brass can be as much the 'proprietor' of advanced 20th-century brass music as Kronos Quartet is for strings.
This was entertainment on a transcendental scale.
Holding the Empire together is leader Rolf Smedvig, an amazing virtuoso on trumpet, cornet and (what seemed to be) an old clarino high-pitched trumpet. His introductions were inevitably warm - and the playing decidedly hot.
As to individuals, tuba-player Kenneth Amis played the non-stop 16th-notes of Mozart's Turkish Rondo with impossible ease, employing dynamics from pianissimo to fortissimo. If one has never heard cornetist Mark Inouye play Carnival of Venice like Itzhak Perlman playing the fiddle, one has never heard the cornet. True enough, last year Inouye played the same piece with the same intro and same intonation. But one may as well criticise Ashkenazy for playing a Beethoven sonata twice. The music is too damned good to complain.
Kurt Wortman, drummer with the Mark Ishan Band, joined Empire Brass this year, as he did last year. Whether playing electronic drums, giving counterpoint to medieval music or keeping a more conservative march theme up, Wortman adds that extra momentum to this group.