Your Opinions on Brass QUARTET

[MartyNeilan]

At the professional level the real issue is finding a pair of trumpeters who truly match each other and can pass lines off in a manner that is seamless, a la Canadian Brass. That is VERY difficult, and then you have to factor in personality. Horn is MUCH easier to find than trumpet 2, in my experience.

One of the things I like, is the way they pass off lines around the entire quintet. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Gene frequently used euphonium instead of trombone. Also, I think this is another reason why a smaller tuba is preferred in a quintet or quartet - the direct clear voice of a bass tuba or smaller contrabass allows the tuba to be a 5th solo voice that can trade lines much easier.

[DelVento]

I play in a pretty serious brass quartet and believe me...there's a lot of good rep out there. Our instrumentation is 2 trumpets, trombone, and euphonium (with a decent low range). The Ramsoe Quartets are our Ewalds. Play them all and find as much new rep as you can. In my school library there's stacks of old brass quartet music from the Golden Age and some of it really works.

Believe it or not, the Canadian Brass started as a quartet! And the Nothing But Valves Quartet seemed to be pretty successful...so go for it!

I think, especially in a genre this young, that making a quintet the definitive form of brass chamber music is a foolish decision!!!

[k001k47]

Soprano Trumpet
Trumpet
Flugelhorn
Bass trumpet

Soprano trombone
alto trb
tenor trb
Bass trb

S sax
A sax
T sax
B sax

Tenor tuba
Eb tuba
Bb tuba
Sub contra bass tuba



, but making a serious suggestion is difficult.
I think two trumpets, trombone, cimbasso would work out nicely: maybe one of those trumpets could be a flugel to get an alto-ier voice.

[toobagrowl]

A couple years ago over the summer I formed a brass quartet - 2 trumpets, trombone and me on tuba. It actually sounded pretty good, but the 4-part voicing IS slightly more "hollow" in sound to the 5-part brass quintet. The quartet only lasted maybe 5 months or so because of travel distance and scheduling between all players. Trying to form a group of brass players is like herding cats. I wanted it to last; we were starting to record and all Soon after, I joined a brass quintet and am enjoying it and have rehearsal tonight