Ascent to the Summit

My first experience with the Monarch Brass was at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Columbus Ohio, in 2015. I was a volunteer and was assigned to help setup for their concert. It remains as one of my absolute favorite concerts I have ever been to, for several reasons. Firstly, my undergraduate professor, Lauraine Carpenter, was playing and it was really cool to see her perform in this setting. Secondly, it was one of the most high energy brass concerts I have ever seen. For the full almost two hour performance they played with energy, precision, and emotion that kept the audience on a high. This is a group of amazing professional women brass players that come together to put on these fantastic performances.


Tara Islas wrote Ascent to the summit in 2016, and in the program note describes it as "A short rousing fanfare guaranteed to grab attention with its majestic theme and powerful dynamic peaks."

Enjoy this wonderful performance by the Monarch Brass from the 2017 International Women's Brass Conference.

Salvation is created

Salvation is created, by Pavel Tchesnokov is a beautiful choral work. Its long arching chordal lines, and subdued style make it a gorgeous, pensive reflection work (at least in my mind). I have played various arrangements of it, and tunes that quote it, many times over the last several years. As this is one of my favorite pieces,  it only makes sense that when I was hunting for trombone choir music and saw this recording I had to write about it. 

Performing this is the University of Texas Trombone choir. While certainly not a perfect recording, it is beautiful nonetheless. I really do not have much to say about this tune, it speaks for itself. I invite you to enjoy this recording while not doing anything else - just sit back and listen!

Enjoy

Classic Tull

Fisher Tull has long been one of my favorite composers to play. Like many composers there are what I would call dead giveaways in their writing that instantly identify them, Fisher Tull is no different.....mostly. What I find interesting is that his Quintets mostly don't bear the same chromatic and technical 'licks' that a lot of his other works do. I am not sure exactly how important that is, but it definitely gives his work some more depth (or at least I think so!). The work we are going to discuss today however, is 'classic' Fisher Tull. There are themes and ideas he has used in other works, for example, the trumpet opening in the third movement bears resemblance to the opening of Tull's Three Bagatelles for trumpet.

A little about Fisher Tull: He was an American trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He studied with legendary trumpet pedagogue John Haynie at the University of North Texas, and with composer Sam Adler. According to his biography he did a lot of arranging for jazz ensembles, which I think is apparent in his writing as there is a lot of jazz influence.

For todays listening I want to focus on Exhibition for brass quintet (1961). I have included links below to all six movements as performed by the Custom Brass Quintet. Aside from the first movement, all of the other ones open with either solo tuba, trumpet, or trombone. I really like how Tull cycles through these different sort of dance aesthetics, and how he seems to blend older styles and tonalities, with more modern elements including hints of atonality. There also appear (weather intentional or not) to be elements of other quintets mixed throughout this one. See if you can pick any of these up during your listen.

Enjoy!

Tuba Whoba?

Keeping up with the theme from my last post, for this one I descended into my least favorite ensemble type, and that is any tuba/euphonium mix. As I watch my grade drop based on that last comment, I would like to explore the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble.

Founded in 1967 by R. Winston Morris, the professor of tuba at Tennessee Tech, the TTTE has been in existence for over 52. They have won numerous awards, and have released the most tuba ensemble recordings of any group to date. The TTTE has also served as an inspiration for the forming of new tuba ensembles worldwide. 

I want to share with you today Tuba Juba Duba, by Terry Hutchinson. This piece was written in 1967 and is heavily jazz influenced. This piece starts with a slow, but bouncing groove, then moves into a slower section, before returning to the same style as the beginning. Without being able to find any program note for the piece, or any information on Hutchinson (other than he wrote this piece) I struggled to figure out why I enjoyed it, or if I even understood it. What I personally like about it, and tubists may hate (I would be curious to know), is that it seems to embody the tuba stereotypes. From the title, to the music itself - it just has a sort of dopey and lazy quality. However, I actually think that the slow, chordal middle section makes a case for the tuba as a melodious and beautiful instrument, even if it does return to the first theme again. 

Enjoy!

American Horn Quartet

One thing (among many) that I am grateful for this course for is that I have used it to force myself out of my comfort zone when it comes to brass ensembles. I tend to only stick to groups that feature the trumpet. For this post I set out to listen to horn quartets and here is what I found.

A group that I had heard of but never really listened to is the American Horn Quartet. I used them on a presentation in class, but decided to look a little further.  The American Horn Quartet formed over 28 years ago. According to their website biography they are known for composing, arranging, and commissioning new works for the horn quartet genre. Interestingly enough, all four (American) original members were living in Europe at the time the group was founded.

What I wanted to share with you today is their Horn Quart No. 3 for horns, Op. 18, by Kerry Turner (A member of the quartet). 

Here is the program note for the piece:

"Prizewinner, IHS Composition Competition 1993. The Quartet Nr. 3 for Horn Quartet was written in the summer of 1992. It was designed to be the main work of any horn quartet concert. Other than the quartets by P. Hindemith, M. Tippett and K. Turner, there is a definite need for major, multi-movement works in the quartet repertoire. In order to avoid taxing one solo player against 3 accompanying players, the composer preferred to render all voices absolutely equal, each voice being equally virtuosic, solistic, and melodic. There are 4 movements: The Sooners, The Homesteaders, the Ghost Town Parade, and Finale. Each movement's title is merely an accurate description of what the composer had in mind while composing, and is not meant to have a story or programmatic idee fixe, although it is rather clear that the composer's thoughts are in the American West sometime in the 19th century. Quartet Nr. 3 is approximately 17 minutes in length, and spans nearly 4 octaves."

I am sharing just the first movement, The Sooners, though I highly recommend the whole piece! It is incredible to watch these players perform such a challenging work. What I really like about this video is the intensity they play with. I hear this movement as 'Heroic,' and their technique and agility fit that perfectly. 

Enjoy!

Old but New

It is a pretty big stretch to consider this video as a brass ensemble. But I am willing to make that stretch. I will make the case by saying that the opening features several brass instruments playing in a very dirty, New Orleans dixie style, it constitutes some of elements of a brass ensemble.

The reason I make this post is because as of late I have been digging into new arrangements of older tunes, specifically when they use brass instruments (or other 'classical' instruments). In this case it is a jazz band....Anyway....My goal is to find out how popular (or at one time popular) musicians are utilizing instrumentalists in recent times. I recently discovered some arrangements with Paul Simon on SNL that are fantastic, but I will save that content for a different type of blog.

I have become interested in this area because I think it is always fascinating when a musician covers their own music in a completely new way. A lot of rock and popular music I think are well suited for the brass ensemble sound, and therefore would love to see more utilization of brass in popular music (and not synthesized brass...yuck).

Here is the video in question, Layla, performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra, and Eric Clapton.

Enjoy!

Mostly* American

Short Post here:

I have always enjoyed German Polka and similar styles. A trumpet player that is extremely popular in Germany, but much less so in the US is Walter Scholz. I have been listening to Scholz since I was fairly young, and oddly enough I still know very little about him. The vast majority of information available on his in in German. There are translation options but there is a lot of context sorting to do there. So, for this post I would like to let his playing speak for itself. Here are some fantastic recordings with Scholz accompanied by a brass band. Listen for his pure and clear tone, impeccable multiple tonguing, and agility. For comparison, I think of him as the German-Polka version of Doc Severinsen.

Enjoy!

The Music of Disney

Story Time:

When I was in 7th Grade my family went to Walt Disney World and I saw a group called the Main Street Philharmonic. This is a marching band type group, made up of professional musicians that plays at the Magic Kingdom. I remember as a young trumpet player instantly falling in love with their sound, energy, showmanship, and passion.

Fast forward: Freshman year of college I did an internship at Disney (not music related) for 7 months. It was during this time that I had my doubts about whether I would continue with music. I very soon found myself on every single day off going to the magic kingdom to watch these guys perform. It was during these months that I became inspired to dedicate myself to the trumpet full time and make a career out of this. Though my focuses have shifted to a more orchestral oriented career, I haven't forgotten where I come from, and what my inspirations were (and are).

I wanted to share this story and brief post along with some recordings because I think too often we get so centered on academic and art music, and forget that 'fun' groups like this are still very much musically valid. So with these recordings I encourage you to listen to and watch everything - their stage presence, musicality, technique, and the arrangements. This is a group of seasoned professionals making fun music and entertaining thousands of guests daily.

Enjoy!

Song of hope

Almost everyone in the brass world knows of Ryan Anthony's fight against cancer. He has been bringing attention to cancer and cancer research through the Ryan Anthony Foundation, and his Cancer Blows concerts. What I want to talk about to day is a particular piece that was written for Ryan Anthony and Cancer Blows by Peter Meechan, called Song of Hope. 

Here is the program note for the piece, taken from Meechan's website"

"Song of Hope is dedicated to my good friend Ryan Anthony (principal trumpet with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra) and his charity, Cancer Blows – a foundation set up to raise awareness and money to further the research that has helped give their family a hope for a future following Ryan’s diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma

Upon hearing the middle movement (simply titled “Song”) of my cornet concerto, Milestone, Ryan asked me if I could change the end from its current reflective ending to something more uplifting, and to title it Song of Hope, giving it much more meaning than I could have ever imagined.

As well as a wind band scoring without soloist, Song of Hope exists with 1, 2 or 3 soloists, accompanied by either wind band, brass band, brass ensemble or symphony orchestra.

For my friend Ryan."

The video below, featuring David Bilger (Principal, Philidelphia Orchestra), Michael Sachs (Principal, Cleveland Orchestra), and Ryan Anthony (Principal, Dallas Symphony), is one of my absolute favorite recordings of any piece. 

The three of them play with such finesse and musical expression, it is impossible not to become immersed in the work. It isn't often that one gets to hear three of some of the best orchestral players in the world come together to share their craft. Even more impressive - this is a LIVE recording, that is as near to perfection as it can get.

Below is a video that I hope you enjoy as much as I do!

Potpourri

Program

Emil Petrovics: Cassazione

Performed by the Hungarian Brass Ensemble

Michael Tilson Thomas: Street Song

Performed by the Center City Brass Quintet

Dmitri Tymoczko: Rube Goldberg Variations

Unknown Recording

A lively Hungarian brass quintet by Emil Petrovics, Cassazione opens the program. Petrovics blends classic Hungarian harmonies with modern contemporary aesthetics, such as playing with a sense of atonality, and at times polyrhythm. This piece follows a slow-fast-slow-fast movement structure and ends with a brilliant chordal moment in the finale.

We segue from here to a piece by Michael Tilson Thomas called Street Song. This work opens with long, dense, and lush brass harmonies, before diving into a more rhythmically intense section that still keeps the same sense of density in the harmonies. The piece then backs off again for a beautiful and tuneful slow middle section, before picking up the pace again after a long upward chord bend across the ensemble. Tilson Thomas also brings in an innate sense of American musical culture when he uses jazz influences particularly toward the latter half of the work, when it bounces from tuneful melodies to bright bouncy almost improvisatory elements that seem to swing.

Rube Goldberg variations brings elements of chaos in the first movement. Much of the movement keeps a motor in some fashion of running sixteenth notes, while different instruments pass around long arching ‘melodies.’ With the prepared piano there is also a tin like percussive element that brings in an industrial feel. The second movement Stravinsky Fountain definitely screams Stravinsky influence (obviously), with a sort of disjunct, snappy melody being passed around the ensemble in quarter notes, again with the prepared piano, that to the listener also sounds almost like a harpsichord at times. One can imagine that to perform this movement requires excellent subdivision skills to avoid the dreaded ‘stepping into a hole.’ Homage brings back the chaotic feelings from the first movement. This section is largely the piano playing very technical, broken rhythms while the rest of the instruments play longer, or at least more stable rhythms underneath. The final movement Father Makes the World opens with a slow dreamy feel, that progresses into what I would consider “Quiet controlled chaos™,” in that though the melodies and harmonies can seem disjunct and random, it maintains the soft dreamlike elements, without getting too wild.