New York Times (USA)
The Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process series normally focuses on new music and dance. But it traditionally ends its fall season with a holiday concert that mostly looks back at Christmas repertory, ranging from medieval carols and Baroque works to 19th-century favorites and a few brief glimpses of modernity.

The concerts have long been performed by George Steel and his finely polished Vox Vocal Ensemble, and even though Mr. Steel has left New York to run the Dallas Opera, he was unable to resist returning to keep up the tradition.

For the concert Mr. Steel conducted on Sunday afternoon (with a repeat on Monday), the Vox Vocal Ensemble was joined by the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble. Both groups began high in the museum’s rotunda with a zesty, resonant account of Scheidt’s “In Dulci Jubilo.” And they remained two levels up the circular walkway for a gleaming, antiphonal brass performance of Praetorius’s “Kanarienvogel” and a precise, warm-toned reading of Britten’s “Hymn to the Virgin” before making their way toward ground level while singing the carol “Once in Royal David’s City.”

Mr. Steel’s program was full of thoughtful touches. Bach’s organ setting of “Vom Himmel Hoch” made several appearances in transcriptions for the brass group, first as a chorale prelude (BWV 248, No. 21) and as the subject of a fughetta (BWV 701), later as a fugue (BWV 700) and another chorale prelude (BWV 606).

The first two composers on the program, Scheidt and Praetorius, made several other appearances, and Praetorius was particularly well served by a graceful vocal quartet version of “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen.” And the 20th-century contributions, apart from Britten, included a bright, shapely account of Finzi’s “Brightness of This Day” and one pop number, performed by only the men in the choir, Mel Tormé’s “Christmas Song.”

The one piece that maintained a connection with the normal business of Works & Process was Nico Muhly’s “Senex Puerem Portabat” (“An Old Man Carried the Child”), a work composed for the occasion. Mr. Muhly begins by toying with Minimalism, underpinning the score early on with a simple, rhythmically steady repeating figure that moves from the altos to the brass before disappearing in an increasingly complex web of appealing and often sensual choral and brass counterpoint.

The program also included several carols in which the audience was expected to sing along. Mostly the audience saw the wisdom in demurring: far better to hear this choir do the singing than to inflict your questionable intonation on your neighbor.

American Poems (USA)
CD release 'Concertos, Sonatas and Suites (IMP Classics): "If you read the notes that come with this CD, you can read all of the terrific reviews from the past that Graham has received, so I won't put them here. This CD very accurately captures how clearly Graham understands the Baroque trumpet, and Baroque music in general. His interpretations are always tasteful, and he plays with the audience, (live or not) in mind. I HIGHLY recommend this CD to any trumpet player looking for a recording of a step forward for the trumpet; something which happens to be very hard to find today".

All Music Guide (USA)
CD release 'Trumpet Concertos & Sonatas' (Virgin Classics): 'Trumpet Concertos & Sonatas' is a successful example of a release that can appeal to a range of classical listeners, from those simply in search of music for the dinner hour to those specifically interested in trumpet music or in the Baroque concerto. The "Trumpet Concertos & Sonatas" title implies a distinction that turns out to be strictly terminological; all these pieces are for trumpet (or trumpets) and strings, and all date from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth centuries. Various top composers of the Baroque are represented, including Purcell, Corelli, Telemann, Stradella, Torelli, and Handel. Vivaldi and Albinoni, as usual, have perhaps the best grasp of how to write idiomatically for the trumpet; the Albinoni Sonata No. 2 for trumpet and strings in D major is the most athletic of the bunch, but trumpeter Graham Ashton handles it with aplomb. The most fascinating characteristic of these pieces is the extreme brevity of their individual movements. There are ten complete concertos (or sonatas) included here, with 37 tracks of music in just over 63 minutes. Most of the movements are less than two minutes long, and many are in the nature of single utterances from the trumpet rather than having rounded forms of any kind. It's hard to think of another repertory so concise. This trait, historically and intellectually interesting, also suits the music for casual listening; the music requires no attention span, and it has plenty of flash. If you find that you get interested in this music after hearing this disc, know that performers who use the natural trumpets and other instruments of the Baroque era have much to bring to this repertory. For the present, however, the Irish Chamber Orchestra under Ian Watson offers clean support.

All Music Guide (USA)
CD release 'Scenes of Spirits' (Signum Classics): "As brass quintets continue to gain popularity, some have diverged from the ensemble's entertainment function of distilling various kinds of music down to a consistent, easily enjoyed package. One of the most striking divergences has come from the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble, a U.S. group that has offered several contemporary experiments. On Scenes of Spirits, the group interacts with musicians and composers from various cultures -- something that might seem difficult for a brass ensemble to do at anything more than the most superficial level. Ashton, a trumpeter, responds to the challenge with immersion in the music he is encountering, incorporating the brass ensemble into those languages rather than seizing upon obvious features of those languages and incorporating them into traditional forms. The brasses are stretched into new textures and are mostly used to complement the sounds of non-Western instruments. The detailed notes to the first piece, Raga (performed with Indian tabla player Ustad Kadar Khan and his wife, sitarist Bina Kalavant), are well worth scrutinizing for their detailed and conscientious approach to the problem of cross-cultural collaboration; the procedures devised by trombonist Jim Pugh, involving a set of 18 musical cues that coordinate the activities of the brasses and the Indian musicians, are among the most sophisticated experiments ever undertaken in this vein. The piece is very much a North Indian classical improvisation with a brass element rather than vice versa, and in all the music, with the partial exception of Irish composer Suzanne Farrin's All Sides Endlessness, the brasses serve to develop the music rather than set its foundations. Most of the pieces don't begin with the sound of brasses at all, and the characteristic chords of the brass ensemble appear only at the music's peaks of intensity. From Indian music the program moves on to a nicely grumpy set of four Japanese seasonal spirits; the Graham Ashton original Birdsong, with a didgeridoo drone (sometimes leaving its tonal seat, organum-fashion), brass quartet, percussion, and piano; Farrin's piece, for brass trio, bodhran, pennywhistle, and bass flute; and a Brasstango by Argentine composer and frequent Piazzolla arranger Carlos Franzetti. The program is so diverse that it's easy to forget you're listening to a brass album -- but the medium links all the music together. Highly recommended for contemporary music audiences, students of world music, and virtuoso performers interested in new experiments in collaboration."

Musical Pointers (UK)
CD release 'Scenes of Spirits' (Signum Classics): "Uniquely ambitious was trumpeter/composer Graham Ashton in using a research grant to explore new music from many cultures and create an album for his brass ensemble, using exotic instruments from several continents: Sitars, Tablas, Shakuhachi, Koto, Sho, Bodhran, Penny-Whistle, Bandeoneon & Didgeridoo! The whole booklet is on line and it makes for an absorbing read, following which you won't be able to resist hearing how it all melds together. A really worth-while extension of the brass ensemble repertoire... Recommended unreservedly".