More About Clarion CDs

[A Partridge in a Pear Tree] “is a superb disc to be enjoyed by all, especially during the Christmas holiday.”
John Dressler
The Horn Call, October 2006

About Nutcracker Suite Dreams:
“Over the years, I’ve heard quite a few collections like this - Christmas music in original arrangements for brass - including some by top groups like London Brass. This is the first one that I thoroughly enjoyed and can heartily recommend.”
American Record Guide - Kilpatrick
November / December 2002

Nutcracker Suite Dreams’ and ‘Festival of Lights - A Collection for Chanukah’ show Berry as arranger and the talented Clarion musicians all at their best - virtuosic, musically fascinating and wildly fun.”
Ann Le Bar
Spokane Spokesman-Review, 2000

Clarion is a brass choir comprised of twelve brass players and a percussionist who formed to explore the versatility of this instrumental combination by performing everything from serious chamber works to jazz and popular music. While the brass section of an orchestra is allowed their few glorious moments in the symphonic repertoire, they mostly sit in the back counting rests and reading magazines. Clarion takes advantage of this wealth of free time, along with the many styles of music which lend themselves to brass instruments by playing music well beyond the imaginary boundaries which have traditionally limited the brasses to fanfares, marches, and big, fat chords to back up the strings while they saw away in the spotlight. Life without strings attached has been wonderful.

In the Fall of 2000, Clarion Brass Choir released its first compact disc, Nutcracker Suite Dreams - Holiday Music with the Clarion Brass Choir, which features original renditions of Holiday classics. Nutcracker Suite Dreams was an immediate success, quickly becoming the top-selling local album in the Spokane region and reaching a national audience through an interest in the CD’s innovative musical arrangements from the world-famous Canadian Brass and the brass section of the New York Philharmonic. In 2003, Clarion released its second CD, Angels, which is a recording of the cantata by William Berry along with members of the Spokane Area Children’s Chorus, The Candlelight Singers - a collection of some of the finest singers in the region, and organist Janet Satre Ahrend. Clarion released a third CD in 2005, a sequel to the NSD recording, called A Partridge in a Pear Tree - More Holiday Music with the Clarion Brass.

CLARION PERSONNEL

Robert Spittal, conductor
William Berry, music director and composer / arranger