New ¡Sacabuche! CD

[LeTromboniste]

Hi all!

With the risk of tooting my own horn a bit here, I thought some here might be interested to know there's a new CD featuring sackbuts coming out this week (I believe official release is Friday 16. April, although it can be preordered on most of the usual music platforms, some of which have previews available) from the Canadian-American early music ensemble ¡Sacabuche! led by Linda Pearse. The trombonists on the CD are Linda Pearse (bass), Catherine Motuz (alto and tenor), Peter Christensen and myself (tenor). We recorded this almost two years ago already, it's been a long wait but I'm thrilled that it is finally coming out, and quite pleased with the results. It includes 18 pieces of music from the 17th century related with the Habsburg dynasty in Austria and Bohemia. Lots of really cool pieces (including some modern premieres) featuring various combinations of violins, cornetts, trombones and a contralto (the soloist Vicki St. Pierre has a fantastic voice that works perfectly with trombones).

Hidden Treasures - Seventeenth-Century Music of Habsburg and Bohemia
¡Sacabuche!
ATMA Classique

[LeTromboniste]

Officially out!

As a preview, here is the first track, Giovanni Felice Sances' pretty glorious motet O dulce nomen Jesu, performed here with solo alto, four trombones, theorbo and organ:

[mbarbier]

congrats- this is lovely!

[CalgaryTbone]

Beautiful! Thanks for posting!

Jim Scott

[Posaunus]

Maximilien,

This is wonderful. What instruments were you four trombonists playing? Photos / descriptions?

They sound terrific - to my untrained ears, quite authentic.

Congratulations!

[LeTromboniste]

What instruments were you four trombonists playing? Photos / descriptions?

Catherine, Peter and I all play Egger tenors after Hainlein, Linda plays a Meinl bass after Oller. Those are all very well made instruments and essentially the Conn 88 and Bach 50 of the sackbut scene in terms of how ubiquitous they are; they are fairly true to the originals they are based on (with some modern compromises), with the original dimensions accurately followed, paper-thin bells with kranz, lightweight bell section assembly that isn't rigid, and overall a lot of the making process using historical techniques. Not sure about the specs on the Meinl bass; the Egger tenors have 10.5/11mm bore (.413"/.433") and 98mm bells (3.85").

[BGuttman]

I like that the motet's title is "O Sweet Jesus". Sounds like a Southern American swear The performance was wonderful

I'm delighted that Catherine is still active. I think she was on the old OTJ Forum.

[Posaunus]

What instruments were you four trombonists playing? Photos / descriptions?

Catherine, Peter and I all play Egger tenors after Hainlein, Linda plays a Meinl bass after Oller. Those are all very well made instruments and essentially the Conn 88 and Bach 50 of the sackbut scene in terms of how ubiquitous they are; they are fairly true to the originals they are based on (with some modern compromises), with the original dimensions accurately followed, paper-thin bells with kranz, lightweight bell section assembly that isn't rigid, and overall a lot of the making process using historical techniques. Not sure about the specs on the Meinl bass; the Egger tenors have 10.5/11mm bore (.413"/.433") and 98mm bells (3.85").

Not too surprising that they look as beautiful as they sound.

These recordings and photos really make me want to take up the sackbut again, but it's been too many years (decades) since - and there's no place to perform around here.

Thanks, Maximilien.

[jeremyesmith]

This was quite beautiful to hear on a Friday morning.

Thanks for sharing and congratulations on the new album!

[Kbiggs]

I finally got around to listening to this track. Beautiful.

Just curious about the pic on the cover: does this illustrate the 1618 Defenestration of Prague?

[LeTromboniste]

I finally got around to listening to this track. Beautiful.

Just curious about the pic on the cover: does this illustrate the 1618 Defenestration of Prague?

Yes!

[silverslideman]

Super track, congratulations!

[boneagain]

ATM Classique has made the CD booklet available as a PDF. All you have to do is search for the CD info Maximilian included in his original post and the link will come up.

The notes are almost as good as the performances