Saturday, May 24 – 1:00pm

Ed Landreth Auditorium

Recital: Ibrahim Maalouf
Gail Novak, pianist

“Rich in diversity, this recital is really an odyssey. The program features pieces from all over the musical compass: classical, contemporary-jazz, modern, classical oriental and oriental-jazz. Ibrahim Maalouf plays the oriental quarter-tone trumpet, a unique instrument, without which such a wide-ranging program would be but a pipe dream.”

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Joel Treybig, reporter

I had expected the Ibrahim Maalouf recital to be a unique experience when I had read that he would be performing some music on a trumpet that produced quarter-tones and had been built by his father. However, the variety of music on this recital went far beyond what I had expected, and the performance included not only wonderful twentieth century recital music performed on C trumpet, but also music in a middle-eastern style, the performance of which was enabled by the use of the aforementioned quarter-tone instrument.

Maalouf opened his program with an expressive rendition of Francaix’s Sonatine. His performance captured the humor and light character of the piece, and his phrasing in the muted middle movement was beautiful. His flexibility shined through in the coda of the second movement, which seemed effortless. Maalouf played through the shifting rhythms and modulations of the last movement with an ease that was a delight to behold.

Henderson’s Variation Movements was Maalouf’s next selection, and he played the unaccompanied piece with great attention to dynamic contrast and musicality. His grasp of the jazz influence in the piece did not go unnoticed, and his control over the sudden shifts in dynamics often made it seem as though the audience was listening to two players in tandem. The crowd was openly impressed by his performance of this demanding work, for which he received a great deal of well-deserved applause.

Maalouf’s sound soared through his next selection, Rueff’s Mobiles. Like Rueff’s other works, Mobiles requires both subtlety and power, both of which Maalouf proved he possesses. It was on this selection also that I took notice of the magnificent job that Gail Novak, the pianist for the recital, did as the accompanist for these pieces. This work called for much attention to ensemble from both of the players, and they played the piece as if they had done so many times before.

It was at this point that Maalouf switched over to his quarter-tone trumpet, designed specifically to perform oriental or middle eastern music. As such, he played three pieces that were improvisatory in nature and exhibited what this unique instrument could do.

The first piece was based on a set of musical phrases by his father, over which Maalouf improvised. What made this improvisation unique was that it was not based on jazz chords, but rather middle-eastern folk melodies and scales. The first section of the work was unmetered and unaccompanied, but suddenly the piano joined in with an ostinato of a traditional dance rhythm. The second performance in this style differed from the first in that Maalouf was joined by drum and bass and played in a jazzier style. The melodic material was quite active and was still based on middle-eastern material, but included more of a jazz quality. Remarkable, Maalouf played the piano ostinato himself on this piece, while simultaneously playing the active melodic material on trumpet! Finally, he concluded with a performance that was more jazz-like still. It included many glissandos and bent pitches, and with the combo playing with him (consisting of two drums, piano, and bass) almost made one think of a Lebanese treatment of Miles Davis’s work in Sketches of Spain. This was a superlative performance, and an exciting way to close Maalouf’s recital.

The performances of the recital pieces were certainly first-rate, but the audience showed much interest in Maalouf’s performances of the traditional music on his second half. This was a rare chance to hear such music performed on this instrument, which could sound not only like a trumpet, but almost like a voice or a reed instrument in his capable hands. Those in attendance loved the program, and those who could not be there really missed something worth hearing!

Southwest Texas State University
Trumpet Ensemble
Jack C. Laumer, director

Members:
Gapo Aguilar, Gilbert D. Borrego, Amanda Brandt, George Flores, Robert L. Garza Jr.
Scott Mosley, Brett Nelson, Abel G. Villescaz, Blake Waller - Bass Trumpets;
Martin Montoya, Raul Escobar

Program:

Intermission