ITG 99 Conference Coverage

Festive Overture Video Clip

Concert: Festival of Trumpets

John Irish and Kimberly Stephans, reporters

If the individual 1999 Conference performances of some of the world's greatest trumpet performers weren't enough, the Festival of Trumpets featured fourteen pieces and a galaxy of stellar players in one gala concert. Held at the Tyler Hynes Commons Walkway, adjacent to a picturesque Westhampton Lake, the Festival of trumpets demonstrated a wide variety of music, instruments, and performers in the wonderful alfresco setting. All the ensembles were situated on the patio of the Commons, which overlooked the lake, using the large glass walls of the building as a backdrop. Performances ranged from a solo trumpeter to an ensemble of almost eighty. The mixture of highly talented musicians playing some of the great music for our instrument combined to provide the climax by which many will remember this conference.

The opening work on the program was Handel's Overture from the "Royal Fireworks Music" in an arrangement by James Olcott. The arrangement included 6 piccolo trumpets, 6 D trumpets, 6 flugelhorns 2 baritones, tuba, and timpani. Under the direction of Dennis Herrick, the concert began in grand fashion. Owing to the location next to the lake, one

Wilson's Concerto for Eight Trumpets

could easily imagine the grandeur of Handel's first performance of this piece as the sounds reverberated across the water.

The second work, Thomas Wilson's Concerto for Eight Trumpets, was a rhythmically driving, four-movement work, with lyrical melodic interludes, angular melodies and fanfare riffs throughout the first, third and fourth movements.

David Baldwin and
Terry Everson

The energy and intensity of the piece carried well across the water to the audience.

David Baldwin and Terry Everson next played an anonymous Sonata in D on two piccolo trumpets. This four-movement piece from the Torelli school featured virtuoso playing from both performers. These two masters matched styles very well and spiced up the work with some judicious ornamentation, making for a most festive performance.

The Be-Bop group

Fourth on the program was a jazz piece, Dizzy Gillespie's Be-Bop, arranged for eight trumpets by Steve Wright. The trumpet line played the melody in near-perfect unison, breaking into harmony occasionally at phrase endings, and on the background hits. Several of the players took single-chorus solos, including the pianist. For an outdoor performance, this ensemble was tight, energetic and enjoyable to listen to.

Playing on natural trumpets on two sonatas from the Charamela Real,

Natural trumpet group playing Charamela Real

the trumpeters offered this program's only performance on the valveless instrument. Played with appropriate aplomb, this group reminded us of the noble sounds known and practiced by our brethren-in-art predecessors. As a bonus, the seven performers listed in the program were joined by Niklas Eklund in these two sonatas—a glorious sound was enjoyed by all.

The ITG Conference 1999 turned out to be something

The Ewazen ensemble
Daniel Kiser, conductor

of an Eric Ewazen fest, as several different groups independently programmed his Fantasia for Seven Trumpets. This performance for the Festival of Trumpets was taken a bit quicker than the others, which gave the piece a little more lilt. Since clouds were beginning to roll in from the west, speeding the concert along seemed like a good idea.

John Daniel

John Daniel next performed his own composition for solo trumpet. Titled Etude #1, this is the first of a series of etudes he is writing as alternatives to the etudes in the Clarke Technical Studies. His intention for the new pieces is to provide greater motivation to practice the fundamentals. Daniel demonstrated a very effective way to learn triads in his etude. Certainly students, teachers, and performers will be eagerly looking forward to having the remainder of the etudes written and published.

The next piece was another by Steve Wright, this time as the composer and not the arranger.

David Baldwin, Steve Wright
and Jim Kluesner

This trumpet trio, titled Music for Three Not-So-Close Trumpets, featured very crunchy harmonies, lively rhythms in the first and third movements, and beautiful lyrical melodies in the second movement.

An arrangement of Beethoven's Serenade, Op. 87 for six trumpets, conducted by Charles Conrad, was next. This performance featured the ensemble in a solid and fluent reading of this intriguing arrangement by Thomas Wilson. The many rapid scalar passages were handled easily and the group's homogenous blend added to the appeal of this work.

There Once Was A Girl From Nantucket

There Once Was A Girl From Nantucket, by Steve Skahill, turned out to be another exciting and tight jazz tune, performed by five trumpets and rhythm section. The wind caught someone's music and blew it into the water before they could even get started, delaying the performance slightly, but tasteful playing made up for the wait. Unfortunately, the wind was just one small change in the weather, as clouds continued to roll in, and the rain began to fall.

How appropriate the title of the next piece turned out to be. With a pouring rain dampening the outdoors setting, the concert resumed inside the Commons. Performing Jim Van Heusen's classic standard, Here's That Rainy Day, a trumpet octet, led by Frank Campos, provided a marvelous rendition. The lush harmonies of the arrangement by James Olcott were beautifully played. Hats off to all for dealing smoothly with the sudden change in venue and then playing so well.

The mass ensemble - Bill Pfund, conductor

The Festival of Trumpets Ensemble is always both large (nearly 80 players this year) and loud. But the arrangement of Shostakovich's Festive Overture was well done, and well performed. Though it seemed slightly slow in the beginning, by the end it had picked up speed and energy, and carried the audience along to the final unison concert Bb.

The Allegro Vivace section of Rossini's Overture to William Tell is one of the most familiar trumpet calls of all time. Normally played only by two trumpets in the orchestra, to have it performed by almost eighty trumpets is quite another experience. Under the direction of William Pfund, the group thrilled the appreciative audience. The technical passages were effortlessly played as were the familiar trumpeting figures. The massive sound of this mighty ensemble reverberated throughout the Commons with the sounds of all instruments of the trumpet family. Kudos to all for this exciting performance of an old favorite.

The final number on the Festival of Trumpets program was the old war-horse, Bugler's Holiday by Leroy Anderson, and arranged by David Hickman. The group handled both the accompaniment and the solo parts well, from the upper woodwind flourishes executed by the piccolo trumpets (about twelve of them), to the bass line played by a huge gang of Bb trumpets. The audience enjoyed this rousing finish to the concert.

When in the course of any given ITG annual conference the Festival of Trumpets appears, one knows the end is soon near. What better way to end this four-day event devoted to the art of trumpet playing than to assemble groups of top performers to play a variety of great music for the instrument. The beautiful setting, and even the rainstorm, added to our fond memories of the wonderful trumpet playing associated with the 1999 annual conference in Richmond. Congratulations to all involved.