Enrique Crespo

From Wind Repertory Project
Enrique Crespo

Biography

Enrique Crespo (17 October 1941, Montevideo, Uruguay – 20 December 2020, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany) was a trombonist, arranger and founding member of the German Brass Ensemble.

Mr. Crespo studied music and architecture in Montevideo and in Buenos Aires. He was principal trombonist in the symphony orchestra there, as well as jazz soloist, arranger and bandleader for TV productions. He was awarded a grant to the college of music in Berlin in 1967. There he studied trombone and composition, from which he graduated with a music degree in 1969. In the same year he became principal trombonist with the Bamberger Symphoniker and moved on in 1980 to the same position in the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart.

During this time Enrique Crespo was principally occupied with his own compositions, which he personally presented. He cooperated intensively with the Bavarian broadcasting company, and set up a private recording and film studio from which numerous record, film and television productions emerged.

For one of his productions and a tour of France, Crespo formed the German Brass Quintet (Deutsche Blechbläserquintett) in 1974. In order to be able to arrange the music of Bach without compromise for the EMI Classics production, "BACH 300", he doubled the size of the quintet in 1985 and gave it the new name German Brass. It became the most popular and successful professional brass ensemble in Germany.

From the beginning Crespo dedicated himself to jazz and folklore with the same passion and enthusiasm as to so-called serious music. His compositions are marked by this mixture of diverse styles, and with his extensive knowledge of instruments he offers the brass players completely new scope. Their instruments, as a rule treated with some neglect by "classical" composers, are awarded the opportunity of entering into totally different dimensions of play. Crespo also arranged a number of pieces in a variety of styles (including baroque, classical, jazz, folk and popular music from Latin and South America) for German Brass.


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