2021 ITG Commission

R. Carlos Nakai's La'igoo tádiíya'h for trumpet and fixed media
World premiere performance by Rene Shapiro


About the trumpet soloist: Rene Shapiro is assistant principal trumpet of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Since 2004, he has served as leader of the brass section on BSO’s pops concerts and featured on stage with Paquito D’Rivera, Al Jarreau, John Williams, Leslie Odham, Jr., Linda Ronstadt, and Burt Bacharach, to name just a few. A native of San Diego, California, he has performed with such ensembles as the Boston Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, and Colorado and Albany Symphony Orchestras. Globally, he has worked with the International Symphony in Jerusalem, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in Spain, Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra di Milano, and Namdo, a Korean festival with leading European principals in orchestras such as Vienna Philharmonic. Traveling internationally has been a passion that has also allowed him to meet a violinist and his future wife, Silva, in Italy. Their daughter, Tehya, was the winner of the senior youth division of the inaugural Ryan Anthony Memorial Solo Trumpet Competition.

In addition to BSO Music Directors Marin Alsop and Yuri Temirkanov, a few of the notable conductors with whom he has worked include Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Lorin Maazel. His teaching has included the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, French Woods Festival, Maryland Classical Youth Orchestra, Chesapeake Youth Symphony, Master Players Festival at the University of Delaware, and Towson University. When resting his chops during the arduous winter season, Shapiro can be found on major ski slopes around the United States. He is a descendent of the Tohono O’odham nation and honored to premiere Nakai’s fantastic new work for ITG.

ITG Conference 2017 –  New Works Recital

2017 ITG Conference logo 

New Works Recital
Friday, June 2nd, 2017.
3:15 – 4:30 p.m.

Note: All program notes have been authored by their respective composers. An asterisks (*) within the text denotes the portion of the work performed.

Sonata for flugelhorn by Carson Cooman
II. Ludus
Anne McNamara, flugelhorn, and Jessica McKee, piano

Sonata for Flugelhorn and Piano (2015) was written for and is dedicated to Anne McNamara. The work was commissioned with support from the University of Utah and Campbellsville University and a trumpeter consortium. The stated intent behind the commission was to develop a work of serious content for flugelhorn that explored the range of possibilities of the instrument: not only its characteristic warm lyricism, but also its technical and virtuosic possibilities.

The work employs the “Cantus/Ludus” form that I have used in several of my instrumental sonatas over the years. The two movements are balanced in their emotional affects and together thus explore a very fundamental musical and cultural dichotomy. In general, the “Cantus” movement concerns itself with song and the “Ludus” movement with play, but these boundaries begin to blur. Thus, while the “Cantus” movement develops largely lyrical material, it does so with a distinctly nervous energy. Finally, at the end of the movement, we get the song-like material presented unhindered. The “Ludus” movement* becomes a game of rhythm and harmony—it is a series of little journeys to and away from triadic material.

Convergence by Michaela Eremiášová
II. Quarter = 150.
Max Matzen, trumpet

CONVERGENCE in three movements for Trumpet, Piano, and Electronics was completed in February 2015. The piece was commissioned by Dr. Max Matzen and sponsored by Tanner Fund in 2015. The world premier of the work took place at the Caine Performance Hall in Utah State University. It was performed by Max Matzen (trumpet) and Mayumi Matzen (piano), accompanied by electronics, during the Matzen’s master class on “Exploring Technology and Music” in September 5th, 2015.

The first movement presents a disagreement between two worlds metaphorically represented by a man (trumpet) and a woman (piano). The electronics play the role of a third party, an environment that has a constant impact on the behavior of the man and the woman. The second movement* unifies the man, the woman, and the environment. It characterizes the notion of duality through the stylistic contrast between contiguous music phrases. In this case, a rhythmically and tonally oriented phrase is interrupted by an arrhythmic and atonal one. The third movement is a representation of the idea of convergence where all musical elements become confluent. The overall concept was inspired by the poetry of Jean Jacques Prévert.

Sounds of the Wilderness by Stefan Schuck
Buddy Deshler, trumpet

Sounds of the Wilderness was a commission by David Deshler who approached five composers based out of the Northern Virginia area to write pieces for solo trumpet with various accompanying ensembles. The idea was to expand the trumpet repertoire while also giving up-and-coming composers a chance to showcase their music in a concert of premieres.

The inspiration for this piece was found on a camping trip I took with one of my long-time childhood friends, Scott Summers, into the forests of Goose Creek State Park in eastern North Carolina. As I walked through the forest out onto the banks of the Pamlico River I couldn’t help but marvel at the serenity and sense of isolation one gets when removed from this technology-filled world we live in. Granted, we were not far from civilization, but these momentary reminders that there is more in the world than what we find on our screens become ever more beautiful to me.

I chose the string quartet for its lush texture and great flexibility in choices it gives a composer. The first movement represents the isolation I was feeling while on the trip, while the second movement represents the actual melodic ideas going through my mind while walking through the forests.

Fin de Fiesta by John Truitt
II. Bulerias por tono de minera
Sarah Herbert, trumpet
Texas Guitar Quartet: Isaac Bustos, Jonathan Dotson, Alejandro Montiel, and Joseph Williams II

Fin de Fiesta is a term that in modern times has come to describe any energetic number that brings a Flamenco show to a close. In the years between WWI and The Spanish Revolution, however, the term referred to the practice of hiring gypsies to finish any theatrical or cinematic event in the theaters of the bigger cities in Spain. After the scheduled show finished, the management of the theater would provide an additional entertainment for the patrons during which they could move about, converse or watch the dancers, singers and guitarists. Appearances at a Fin de Fiesta became essential to emerging Flamenco artists as a way to reach new aficionados, and many of the most significant Flamenco artists of the early 20th century began their careers by performing in Fin de Fiestas.

The piece is written to imagine a performance by a young gypsy performer. After a short guitar introduction, she stands to sing, and intones a short "quejio" to set the mood. She then sings a short love song, in the fashion of a bolero popular in Spain in the 1920's. A cadenza follows, after which the second movement* begins with an energetic theme and the quick and powerful Bulerias rhythm. The bulerias is written in the sinister sounding key of Minera, which is A-flat Phrygian, with moments in E major, A major, and C# minor. The piece is relentless, with no let-up in tempo or intensity. It ends in characteristic Flamenco fashion, with swift, incisive stabs of sound.

Though the piece is modeled on actual Flamenco palos, there are no typical flamenco formulas applied. The rhythm of the Bulerias is accurate, and could be danced by a trained Flamenco dancer, but the guitar parts are playable without a knowledge of Flamenco guitar technique. It is suggested that the guitar quartet be lightly amplified. The first guitar part is a partner in melodic figuration with the trumpet.

Ascent by Jason Dovel
Steven Siegel and Taylor Gustad, trumpets

Ascent for two piccolo trumpets is a quick one-minute jaunt that was written in 2016. It features forceful dissonances, incisive rhythms, and a sense of building, upward motion. It was written to be a flashy concert opener. It is also the title track of Jason Dovel's 2016 CD, Ascent: New Music for Trumpet, which was released by New Branch Records. Ascent is available directly from the composer, www.JasonDovel.com

Dimensions by Daniel Thrower
IV. Mystery of 4D Matter
Daniel Thrower, trumpet

The pickings are slim for playable, high quality, challenging unaccompanied trumpet pieces to program on recitals. “Dimensions” is a collection of five short contrasting movements. The work presents an appropriate balance of rest, duration, and variety for both performer and audience.

The first movement “Dot Ditty” presents rhythmic and half-valve acrobatics in a fairly authentic Rag feel, and calls for cup mute, coloring the introduction to this five-movement experience. Movement two “Space-Time” is a medium swing with a stark color change to Harmon mute. When performed with the right feel, the audience can almost hear a high hat and subdued bass line. It shows its best character with lots of tasteful vibrato. The third movement “Lines and Times” is a lively Latin feel, with challenging be-bop-ish licks. Stylistically, the performer can have license to bend, scoop, and dance (so to speak) to add the proper spice to the intended flavor. Composed for the velvety flugelhorn, “Mystery of 4D Matter” is the lyrical fourth movement* of the collection. Even so, it demands a high level of technical abilities in the development section. The work ends with “Hypercube Net”—a short, fast circus march with the sizzle of straight mute, but requires a mute that can pop out low notes. “Hypercube Net” is the shortest of the five movements, for endurance purposes as well as audience interest. Despite its brevity, it does not skimp on form, artistry, or technical requirements. Featuring finger pyrotechnics, rapid multiple tonguing, long breathless phrases, and octave jumps, this movement completes “Dimensions” on a daring (but accessible) high C.

My best performances of any repertoire, as well as my best compositions, accompany stories or images in my mind. The dimensional themes of the movements and overall title “Dimensions” stem from my own mental pictures of a fun multi-dimensional description with a host of personal twists. These five pieces, among others, actually do accompany a 15-minute stop-motion animation that I put together, available on YouTube as “Dimensions Unfurled.” (To hear the movements individually as artistic works alone, they are available as such on my YouTube channel: Trumpet Thrower.) I don’t classify this five-movement collection as “movie music,” but rather, the short film exists because of my passion to create great art (referring to the music, not necessarily the quality of the animation). Enjoy!

Jet Lag Voodoo by Rusty Banks
Brian Walker, flugelhorn, Julee Walker, alto flute, and Rebecca Wilt, piano

Jetlag Voodoo refers to the magic that can happen in those blurry moments of clarity(?) we experience when jumping between time zones quickly. When I find myself having difficulty finishing a piece because I have become too hung up on an idea, traveling can often slow down time enough for me to find the solution. Sure, in the haze of travel fatigue things might seem out of focus, but in those soft edges is the way through. In most of this piece, one player is presenting a melodic line while the other player is “blurring” it by playing the same pitches but slightly later or slightly earlier. Jetlag Voodoo was commissioned by and is dedicated to Julee Kim Walker and Brian Walker.

Proclamation by Zachary Ploeger
Scott Thornburg, trumpet, and Helen Lukan, piano

Proclamation was commissioned by Scott Thornburg, Professor of Trumpet at Western Michigan University. The work is a new take on the proclaiming nature often associated with the trumpet. The style of the work features a unique form of motivic development that has become the composer’s compositional voice. Often referred to as “moment music,” the motives and sections rarely transition seamlessly, and may even at times sound “disjointed.” This is intentional, however, to set up and then reject the listener’s expectations as to what comes next. Through the continuous use of surprise, the work keeps the audience engaged for the entirety of the work. This performance is the World Premiere. “Proclamation” was finished during the summer of 2015.

Refractions by Nicole Piunno
III. Cadenza – Joyful
Robert Waugh, trumpet, and Rebecca Wilt, piano

J.R.R. Tolkien once used the phrase “splintered fragments of reflected light” to describe how light (or truth) is refracted in every myth or story created. I began to wonder how these fragments of light refract off people and the stories they live out and share. Throughout this piece I wanted to have many different “splintered fragments” of refracted rays. These rays shine most brightly in the third movement, though there are dimmer appearances earlier in the piece.

Many motives and gestures tie the three movements together. These motives often have different appearances, as if viewing them from a different angle. The harmonic language also binds each of the movements, though the third movement* contains the brightest harmonies of the three.

Sonata for trumpet by Greg McLean
III. Vivace
Hollie Lifshey, trumpet, and Rebecca Wilt, piano

The sonata was written in 2015 on commission from the Georgia Music Teachers Association. As a trumpet player I thought it was high time to write a sonata for my own instrument. The piece was written for Hollie Lifshey at Georgia State University. I first heard Hollie play several years ago when she played the Enesco Legend with such control and finesse that I knew she was the perfect fit for my piece. The Sonata was premiered in November 2015 at the GMTA Conference.

 

I wanted to compose a more or less traditional sonata with three movements in the fast-slow-fast format. I have always tried to write something interesting for the audience, challenging for the player, but accessible to both. I think this piece accomplishes that goal. The opening movement follows a sonata-allegro design, but with a modern sense of harmony. The first theme features a Lydian scale motive in sixteenth notes. After a transition the second theme features slower moving rhythm superimposed on a kind of funky, almost jazz-rock sort of accompaniment. Both themes are used in the development, the second moves into six-eight time and requires a bit of triple tonguing. The movement ends with the opening motive.

The second movement was intended to sound like a jazz ballad in triple meter, featuring flugelhorn. The opening idea here uses a sextuplet run to introduce a leisurely sounding tune. Throughout the movement the interval of a seventh is prominently featured. As I was writing this, the notion of interjecting a Latin groove seemed to make sense. So, to break up the slow sections there is a spritely samba that twists and turns. The opening idea returns after a couple of sustained notes in the flugelhorn. The piece ends quietly with more sustained notes in the flugelhorn.

The third movement* is basically a rondo. I wanted it to sound dancelike and opted for a gigue in six-eight with a bright tempo. This lends itself quite nicely to morph into a four-four swing in the middle complete with a written jazz solo for the trumpet. Chord changes are included for those players who are comfortable with improvisation. The gigue returns and the piece ends with bursts of sixteenth-note runs derived from the second part of the gigue melody.

Abril Desconhecido ("Unknown April") by Celso Mojola
Amarildo Nascimento, trumpet

Abril Desconhecido (Unknown April) was completed in May 2015 and is dedicated to the trumpeter Amarildo Nascimento. The design of this piece occurred when I sought to develop new artistic projects, leaving behind a period in which I was involved in routine and tiring academic activities. After a conversation with Mr. Nascimento in the corridors of the Cantareira College of Music in São Paulo, where we both teach, the opportunity arose to write a solo trumpet. I took advantage of the moment to represent, in a composition, the personal change I had been going through.

Since the beginning of 2015 I had conceived the idea that from the following year much would change in my artistic and intellectual life. As I was working on this piece, I imagined that in 2016 every month would be different from what had happened so far - an unknown future opened up in front of me! As the piece was designed in April, what awaited me the following year was therefore an "unknown April”...

Although I have started from a personal experience, I tried to give the piece a universal, classic profile, and in that sense the unknown of the title is extended, encompassing the future in general, in all activities, always bringing surprises and unexpected events. The fact of being a solo trumpet work was also taken into account in this poetics. The piece assumes characteristics of prelude, something that precedes an important event, and thus establishes a dialogue with the old tradition of the trumpet in its function of herald.

The work employs compositional procedures that I have been using in recent years and basically consists of an integrated combination of scalar systems with serial systems, based on classical principles of formal organization. There are also melodic elements well delineated, which is reflected in a unifying harmony that runs throughout the composition. I tried to highlight the lyrical and transcendent personality of the instrument, making the musical phrases in many moments combine with silence.

Concerto for piccolo trumpet by James Stephenson
III. Allegro – Spirito
Joshua Ganger, trumpet, and Rebecca Wilt, piano

In early 2015, I was approached by Joshua Ganger - then a doctoral trumpet candidate at Michigan State University - to compose a concerto for piccolo trumpet and wind ensemble. The commission would serve as his dissertation for his doctoral degree. The commission is unique in several ways: first, that it is the brainchild of a college student; second, that it is a modern concerto for the piccolo trumpet (an instrument most known for its florid use in the Baroque era); and third, that it would be accompanied by a wind ensemble (as opposed to a chamber orchestra, it's usual setting). Lastly - he specified that the piece be suitable for players like him; in other words, college students (or above).

Therefore, to differentiate this concerto from its Baroque predecessors, I set out to write music that is distinctly American, and current. This can be heard in the use of several bold intervals - 4ths and 5ths - which are common to the bravura of a trumpet, and also with the use of jazz harmonies and sensibilities. My main focus was to write fun music to play, while allowing for beautiful expression in the slow movement. In this way the concerto also pays homage to those concertos of centuries ago, many of which I learned myself as a young trumpeter (prior to my switch to full-time composing).

The concerto is in three movements, fast – slow – fast*, and is roughly 15 minutes long.

My most sincere thank you to Josh, for hatching this most enjoyable plan, and to those who helped support his vision to have this piece composed.

Rhapsody by David Sterrett
Jesse Cook, trumpet, and Rebecca Wilt, piano

I composed Rhapsody in 2012 and premiered it myself that same year. “Rhapsody” in this piece refers an expression of longing. The piece is constructed as a palindrome form – A B C B A; it begins in a melancholy, reflective state. The trumpet and piano converse back and forth with melodic fragments; gradually expanding intervals in the trumpet generate a sense of longing. The piece then moves into the second section introducing the main theme of the piece: a pure, unencumbered song of hope and the only melody not cut short or fragmented. After this theme is played out, a sudden modulation and a brief transitional passage pull the music into the middle section, where themes and ideas from the earlier sections are extensively developed and, simultaneously, a third theme is introduced. The music grows more dissonant while gradually accelerating, signifying a sense of desperation and anxiety. A feeling of hope eventually takes over, though, and pulls the music in a more optimistic direction, which leads to the climax of the piece – a grand and triumphant return of the main theme, longing fulfilled. The piece ends as it began – a state of calm reflection, now at peace.

Jesse Cook is an Edwards Trumpet Artist and his performance today is sponsored in part by Edwards and Getzen Trumpets.

Pairs by Dave Hanson
Will Koehler, trumpet, and Rebecca Wilt, piano

The title refers to ‘triad pairs’ used in contemporary jazz, although the piece is fully notated and rhythmically doesn’t consciously draw on jazz usage. The piece achieves continuity by fluid movement through changing tonal centers, using traditional motivic development and a harmonic vocabulary influenced by jazz pianists from the 1960’s on, as well as tonal/modal ‘concert’ or ‘classical’ music. ‘Pairs’ was commissioned by and is dedicated to Will Koehler.

A Stroll Through Kalavryta by Jason Dovel
Steven Siegel, trumpet, and Rebecca Wilt, piano

A Stroll Through Kalavryta for trumpet and piano is about the small town of Kalavryta (Kalavrita) in the mountains of Achaea, Greece. This small town is in a most picturesque setting, with a tragic history that includes the 1943 "Greek Holocaust" in which most adult men in the village were massacred by the German army. The town's natural beauty, combined with its quaint yet lively downtown commercial district, inspired the composer to write this piece. This piece is dedicated to Gerassimos Ioannidis, George Babarakos, and Christina Barlogianni, who organize the "Exploring Brass in Greece" conference that is often held in (or near) Kalavrita. A Stroll Through Kalavryta is available directly from the composer, www.JasonDovel.com

Torngat by Daniel Perttu
I. Allegro Maestoso
Tim Winfield, trumpet, and Nancy DeSalvo, piano

The title of this sonata for trumpet and piano comes from the name of a national park located in the northern tip of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Many of my compositions are inspired by a sense of place, and the Torngat mountains have a majestic remoteness that engenders a wide array of emotions, which are then conveyed in this music.

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ITG Conference 2016 –  New Works Recital #2

ITG 2016 Conference Poster 
New Works Recital #2
Friday, June 3nd, 2016.
1:30 – 2:45pm

Toying by Eric Nathan 
I. Wind-up
II. Elegy for a Toy Soldier
III. Ventriloquizing
Benjamin Berghorn, trumpet

Toying for unaccompanied trumpet was commissioned by the New York-based ensemble Le Train Bleu, to be premiered on a concert focused on the themes of play and playthings. In composing the piece, I approached the concept of “toys” by taking to heart both a sense of playfulness but also the vivid worlds toys inspire in the minds of those who play with them. In my piece, I treat the solo trumpet as a puppet, and think of the work as a series of duets for trumpet and performer (between puppet and puppet master), but also as duets between the trumpet and its own mechanics.

The first movement, “Wind-Up,” imagines a wind-up toy scurrying about a room. I imagined someone winding up the toy, setting it on the floor and watching it gleefully totter around on its own until it runs into a wall. The person then winds up the toy again, and sets it off on its own as it has its own adventures around the room, occasionally bumping into other walls, and finally unwinding itself. In this movement, the performer is asked to unscrew the trumpet’s first valve-cap so that a metallic clicking sound occurs when the valve is pressed. Here there is a duet between the rhythms of the valve clicks and the quiet sounds of the trumpeter playing through a practice mute.

The second movement, “Elegy for a Toy Soldier,” is a memorial ode to a fallen toy soldier. As a child, I had a number of small, metal toy soldiers, each less than an inch tall, that I sent heroically into battle. To my young self, these soldiers had rich lives and distinctive character, and so I have composed an elegy of deserving solemnity to the memory of these tiny souls. In this movement, the trumpeter removes the first valve slide entirely, so that when the first valve is pressed, the trumpet sounds out of the open valve-slide hole with a tiny, slightly detuned sound. I compose a duet that alternates these sounds with the normal sounds of the trumpet, to create the allusion of a toy trumpet saluting a toy soldier. 

The final movement, “Ventriloquizing,” treats the trumpet as a puppet and the performer as its ventriloquist. The trumpet takes on many guises in the movement acting as different characters in a sort of theatrical skit. The movement is filled with vocal effects using the plunger mute, and other effects that coax various sounds of the instrument.

“Toying” is written for, and dedicated to, trumpeter Hugo Moreno.

Hunting by Yan Zheng
Eric Liu, trumpet, Wenfan Yang, piano

Hunting is inspired by the traditional Chinese poem of the same title by a renowned naturalist poet Wang Wei. The piece portrays the the hunting and return of a general on horseback in the evening. The composer uses a characteristic and experimental musical language to reference the words of the poem. The music, expressive in style and upbeat in tune, is as direct, even haughty, as the hunter just returned from a successful hunt: 

“Louder than gusty winds twang horn-backed bows,
Hunting outside the town the general goes.
Keener o’er withered grass is falcon’s eye;
Lighter on melted snow the steed trots by.
In a twinkling New Fertile Market passed,
He comes back to the Willow Camp so fast.
He looks back where he shot down vultures proud,
For miles and miles there spreads a sea of cloud.”

“This Won't Hurt a Bit!” (and other lies...) by Brad Baumgardner
III. Just One More Time (five more minutes?)
Charles Calloway, trumpet

The titles of these pieces are based on the little white lies that we all tell ourselves, or those we love.  These kinds of lies are often told with the best of intentions, and are not intended to mislead for any personal gain or nefarious purpose.  This theme is represented in these pieces through a juxtaposition of centrally different components in each instance. The seemingly incompatible pieces work together to create a whole in much the same way that our little white lies are used to distract, persuade, or encourage ourselves or our loved ones.  Because after all, this gets easier, it won't take that long, and it's for your own good.  So just sit back... this won't hurt a bit... 

Personal Note: Both Charles and I were lucky enough to have studied at the University of Louisville during the tenure of Dr. Michael Tunnell.  Dr. Tunnell was a musician in every sense of the word and always had a smile and kind word for any student with whom he interacted.  He was a dedicated teacher and a fierce advocate of new music and young composers.  As a student composer in the Masters program at U of L, I once asked Dr. Tunnell to suggest some players for a trumpet ensemble piece I had written.  He responded by programming it on the next recital and using the piece as a component of an audition recording for a performance at a meeting of the International Trumpet Guild.  His musicianship, pedagogy, and kindness continue to be an inspiration.  Thanks Mike, "We're glad you were here fella."

Chet the Jet by Charles Reskin
Robert Frear, trumpet, and Miriam Hickman, piano

“Chet” is the main character and also the narrator of a wonderful series of detective novels (the “Chet and Bernie” series) by Spencer Quinn (published by Atria). The books follow the adventures of a former police dog academy washout, Chet, and his owner, Bernie Little, who together form the Little Detective Agency, somewhere in the Southwest. In the opening of the piece I have tried to capture the exuberant personality of Chet as he breathlessly describes the joys of riding shotgun in Bernie’s dilapidated old Porsche chasing bad guys and missing persons around the countryside. Gradually, he begins to nod out, falling into a lazy, jazzy dream where he struts his stuff. Suddenly he’s awakened by Bernie, who has a new case to work on. Back on the road they go, frantically following leads and finally cracking the case. A brief lyrical section follows, in which Chet describes his affection for his master. Then it’s back home for a well-earned meal and rest – until the next case. 

In The Gates of Jerusalem by Amit Weiner
I. Jaffa Gate
II. The Golden Gate (Gate of Mercy)
III. The Flowers Gate (Herod's Gate)
Fred Sienkiewicz, trumpet, and Amit Weiner, piano

In The Gates of Jerusalem contains three short movements, three gates, from the eight gates to the old city of Jerusalem. The gates for the holy city of Jerusalem are 500 years old, and they symbolize the 4000-years-old-Jerusalem, the oldest city on earth.

Each Movement in the piece has a Baroque form, and the three movements are played without pause:

  • Jaffa Gate: Prelude
  • The Golden Gate (Gate of Mercy): Passacaglia
  • The Flowers Gate (Herod's Gate): Toccata

Golden Sparrow by Matthew Burtner
Glen Whitehead, trumpet

Golden Sparrow uses a recording of the characteristic song of the variety living in the Chugach State Park, in Alaska. This characteristic call defined the soundscape of my childhood in the Chugach mountains. The piece begins with the unaltered recorded sparrow. The electronic part was created by time stretching the sparrow song to 100 times its original length. This micro song becomes a gentle harmonic accompaniment over which the trumpet plays, singing a new melody inside the concert space. Like a sonic beacon, the trumpet reflects the suns rays  into the concert hall in beams of sound. A performer on the stage gradually opens a container of light, releasing the light into the concert space in a theatrical ritual. The piece was composed for Glen Whitehead for EcoSono’s Alaska concert on June 23, 2012 and was premiered by Glen Whitehead (trumpet) and Lori-May Orillo (light). 

Farras No. 4 by Felipe Senna
Maico Lopes, trumpet, and Miriam Hickman, piano

In a world increasingly engulfed in chaos – political, economic, social, and sonorous... – to represent our celebrations in a chamber piece was a challenging compositional and philosophical exercise. The seriousness and the importance of the act of celebrating crashed constantly with its reasons and merits, as my musical foray into festive imaginary expanded to other arts in search of parameters, direction, and meaning. It was not simply to try to portray festivities - after all music is a constituent part, fundamentally integral of these rituals and it would be almost like composing meta-music! – but to reflect, musically, on such an important and representative universe. Worldwide, festivities provide an extremely peculiar picture of the people, their different cultures, traditions and realities, as well as the curious ways by which they are portrayed. Portrayed – a key word here because this was the way I got to the paintings that helped me to give life to this song: woodcuts, ‘cordelistas’ from the Pernambuco country side, Impressionist figures in nineteenth-century Paris, ancient Greek paintings ... From the religious nature to the parties by themselves, they all had in common a peculiar energy, magic, hard to explain – it was as if those figures had life on their own and their story little by little turned into sounds, into shapes, into music. The journey was really a spree and the music, which resulted from it, has as the backbone this movement of approach and transformation among the arts, between musical and visual discourses and their different ways of representing, translating and recreating.

“Farras” is a series in progress, in which I try to explore the intense connection we have with the act of celebrating through pieces of various formations (chamber, symphonic and concertante). In Farras No.4, commissioned by Maico Lopez, the wonderful technical and sonorous possibilities of the flugelhorn are in focus, alongside its dynamic dialogue with the piano. Despite the strong allusion to the fun, the theme is as serious as its power of cultural representation, and gives space to deeper reflections; they were the origin of the main music material, which its constantly transformed to give birth to a true musical celebration: flugel and piano discourse from introspection and delicacy to debauchery, to clatter, to revelry, evoking the rich imagery that inspired (and informed) this musical creation.

Evening on the Town by Ross Wixon  
I. Stroll
II. Song
III. Dance
Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and Miriam Hickman, piano

This piece began life seven years ago when I plowed through half of a fast movement and sketched the beginnings of a ballad before setting the work aside to begin my graduate trumpet studies and to tackle a series of commissions.  However, I had hoped to revisit the music and finally complete a work for solo trumpet; so when my teacher, Scott Thornburg, suggested that my recital include one of my own compositions, I was glad to have a clear schedule and a definite deadline!  I returned to my earlier efforts and, using those ideas as a starting place, completed Evening of the Town just in time for my 2012 graduate recital.

At that stage of my career, both my compositional style and my repertoire choices were driven by an interest in the sound world of mid-century American tonalists like Norman Dello Joio and David Diamond, who were both featured on my recital program.  The musical language in Evening on the Town owes much to their lyrical melodies and gently extended triadic harmonies.  In addition, the asymmetrical multimeter in the third movement recalls the energetic rhythms employed by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, and Halsey Stevens. 

I see the three movements of Evening on the Town as musical representations of after-dinner entertainment in a vibrant city; a young couple takes a walk around the city park, portrayed musically by the leisurely tempo and bouncing rhythms in the piano.  The trumpet melody moves along briskly enough, but takes time to pause, as one might do while window-shopping downtown.  The second movement suggests a café scene; our characters have stopped for coffee and dessert and are treated to a song by the resident strolling musician.  The dance-like rhythms of the final movement need no detailed explanation!

Although conceived for trumpet, I imagine that the character of each movement could be enhanced by various equipment choices, including cornet or flugelhorn.  I encourage performers to experiment with instrument combinations to create the most artistically satisfying performance.

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