Is this Ben Pierce?

[djwesp]

Is this Ben Pierce and Adam Lessard playing a duet somewhere? I didn't know he was in a brass band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwA9FP3gnB0

Can't tell... perhaps...

[Eric B]

I just heard Ben Pierce in Texarkana, TX with the Boston Mountain Brass Quintet (University of Arkansas faculty) and thought he was one of the best tubists I'd ever heard. I would never have guessed he was a euphoniumist as well.

[Tom]

See:

http://www.benpierce.com./bio.html

Among the things you will find:

Ben holds a bachelors degree in euphonium performance from Bowling Green State University, a masters degree in euphonium performance from the University of Michigan, and a DMA in Tuba Performance from Michigan.

[djwesp]

.....

[james]

I'm absolutely positive neither one of those guys is Adam Lessard.
-james

[SplatterTone]

I have no idea who the fellow you guys are talking about is

He got a new CD here:
viewtopic.php?t=17228
I been listening to it. Sounds OK to me, but I'm not the William F. Buckley of tuba critique.

Now, whether or not he measures up to the gold standard of Earl Scruggs' banjo playing ... well ... does anybody, really?

[imperialbari]

Very well played!

And I am a great fan of the two-part euphonium format, which could be used much more in general brass-band pieces also.

Only sad, that the music is not really interesting.

The opening promised to be a new version of the old "Grandfather’s Clock" euphonium solo, even promised to be on steroids.

But the slow middle part was far too long. Maybe because I did not really know the tune. To me it sounded like some melodic elements and the tonality of "Amazing Grace" were repeated over and over again.

And it is not because I do not like that tune. I have arranged it for the funeral of a friend on asking by his widow, a former colleague. And a few weeks later I took part in a neighbourhood party at my cousin’s small road, after we had celebrated my aunt’s 89th birthday with a little cantata worded by me on popular tunes (a Danish tradition).

When the neighbours detected, that it was my euphonium, which had sounded from my cousin’s garden, then I had to play for them all. I had brought no music, so I only dared to play two tunes, which I were dead sure to do right after a lot of partying.

The Trumpet Voluntary/The Prince of Denmark’s march/Prins Jørgens march by Purcell was the signature tune on the BBC Danish radio channel during WWII. It always hits right home with older Danes, even if some of us are born after the war.

And then I announced playing a beautiful tune from another country, whereafter I played Amazing Grace, which I had learned from Scottish bagpipers. An attending lady had apparently lived a large part of her life in the USA and had been a church member there. Almost in tears she exclaimed: This is a hymn.

My interest in hymns is no secret, but I do not know the Anglo-Saxon hymn tradition too well, as I am a very continental person (even if I have lived on islands for close to 50 years), so my interests are Bach and the Danish hymns.

Still the listeners had grasped, that one of, if not thee, most heart haunting instruments is the euphonium. It emanates eternal beauty.

The flip side of the coin is, that static beauty soon gets boring. Despite the few outbursts of virtuosity by the two excellent soloists, the music referred to by the given link does not avoid the trap of boredom.

Old man ranting once more.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

[Aaron Tindall]

I know Ben Pierce quite well and can tell by watching that clip that that is NOT him. He IS a phenomenal player on both horns, and everyone should go and buy his cd right now to be blown away. My two cents...