C. Steele-Perkins & R. Burkhart

Trumpeter/composer/musicologist Raymond Burkhart recently presented two papers at conferences in Scotland. His paper, “Fanfare’s Fanfares: Heralding a New Era,” discussed post-World War I European music criticism, the short-lived late-1921 British music journal Fanfare, and the many fanfares printed in its center spread at “Making the British Sound,” the 2009 joint conference of the Historic Brass Society and the Galpin Society, which was held July 7-12, 2009. The conference began in London, England with three days of master classes (including a master class by Crispian Steele-Perkins), concerts, round table sessions, and a visit to the Horniman Museum and its remarkable instrument collections. Historic Brass Society president Jeffrey Nussbaum presented Clifford Bevan with the 2008 Christopher Monk Award. Conference papers were given during the next four days in Edinburgh, Scotland at the University of Edinburgh’s Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments. Visits to the Edinburgh University Collection of Historical Musical Instruments were an important part of the conference. Burkhart was assisted by four trumpeters who performed fanfares by Sir Granville Bantock, Eric Fogg, Sir Eugène Goossens, and Éric Satie.

Burkhart’s second paper was presented July 14, 2009 at the inaugural international brass forum associated with BRaSS (Brass Research and Scholarship in Scotland) at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. His topic, “Cornet and Trumpet Quartets in the United States, 1872 to 1939,” explored the surprisingly complex term ‘cornet quartet’, reviewed the state of American cornet/trumpet quartet publishing from the 1880s to the 1930s, and discussed the histories of several professional American cornet and trumpet quartets of the same period, including their recording activities. Discussion after the paper focused on the surprisingly high percentage of women brass players active during an era that mostly predated suffrage. The lunch break and evening banquet featured performances of brass quintet music by the mid-19th century French composer Jean Bellon led by trumpeter John Wallace, principal of the RSAMD.

Links:

Web: Raymond Burkhart, www.tromba.us
“Making the British Sound” conference, http://www.galpinsociety.org/gxh
Historic Brass Society, http://www.historicbrass.org/
Galpin Society, http://www.galpinsociety.org/
Brass Research and Scholarship in Scotland (BRaSS), http://www.rsamd.ac.uk/academy/research/brass/