To recycle an old strap line phrase of 4BR: Glenn Van Looy is the best thing to come out of Brussels since Stella Artois.

Potent blend

The Belgian is an intoxicating brew made from the most natural of euphonium playing ingredients; a potent blend of startling technique and smooth lyricism infused by an energy that bubbles with the insidious ability to stun the senses. 

He is also a performer whose exuberant personality is underpinned with an inquisitiveness that joyfully explores the ever expanding range of possibilities that lie within his grasp.

In distilled soloist form he is a talent who can leave a listener nursing a hangover of slack jawed bewilderment.

Enticing

This late 2012 recording provides something of an enticing aperitif for another forthcoming major release in the coming months. 

Recorded in Sydney and accompanied by an excellent Gunnedah Shire Band under the flexible direction of Jason Katsikaris, it’s a showcase for a kaleidoscopic talent performing repertoire that is modern, pulsating and engaging.      

Maturing

Tom Davoren’s ‘Proverbially’ triptych is the latest collaboration in a maturing musical relationship that builds in stature with each new commission.  

Sharp, angular and at times deliberately irregular in tempo and structure, it provides the soloist with ample scope to thrill – which he does in spades.

Don Juan

In contrast, a sense of the mind bogglingly bizarre permeates Steven Verhelst’s ‘Tenorio’s Tales’. 

It’s an oddly proportioned, overtly gymnastic portrait of the legendary fictitious lover ‘Don Juan’.

As a result the outcome (after close on 20 minutes of high octane excitement) leans more towards a picture of an in flagrante delicto meeting between Ron Jeremy and Olga Korbut.

Nonetheless, as Kenny Everett used to say, it’s all done in the best possible taste. 

Saved

So too Ben Tubb’s ‘Mancunian Flourishes’, which is saved from becoming flashy virtuosic ephemera by the soloist’s inherent understanding of just how far to push the technical boundaries without losing musical context.

Meanwhile, Philip Sparke’s ‘Summer Isles’ is a stark reminder of how in the hands of a master-craftsman (both composer and soloist) less can mean considerably more, whilst Peter Meechan’s sublime ‘Elegie’, with its soft echoes of Erik Satie in its melancholic solo line, meanders slowly and elegantly to its beautiful conclusion.

Drink and drunk

Unfortunately, Bert Appermont’s ‘The Green Hill’ jumps out at you like a Glaswegian drunk trying to impersonate Michael Flatley in ‘Riverdance’.

Thankfully, Johan Evenepoel’s more substantial ‘Glenn Gliding’ is saved from being drowned in cheap blended highland musical malt thanks to its inventive exploration of harmony and harmonics.

Nuance

Things are rounded off with the title track – ‘Move their Mind’ by friend and compatriot Stan Nieuwenhuis, who seems to be able to explore the exhilarating musical personality of the soloist with nuance and invention.

It’s a neat, three glassfuls of pure ‘stella’ Belgian brilliance to close a CD that leaves you with a significantly more satisfying appreciation of the best thing to come out of Brussels since the world’s finest lager.

Iwan Fox

Contents

1. Proverbially, Tom Davoren
2. Tenorio’s Tales, Steven Verheist
3. Mancunuan Flourishes, Benjamin Tubb
4. Summer Isles, Philip Sparke
5. The Green Hill, Bert Appermont
6. Glenn Gliding, Johan Evenepoel
7. Elegie, Peter Meechan
8. Move Their Mind, Stan Nieuwenhuis

Total playing Time approx. 80mins