Instrumentation: 2 trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba

 

Movements:

I. Distant Fanfares

II. Concurrence

 

Duration: 14 minutes

World Premiere:  Premiered on January 30, 2013 in Kalamazoo, MI.

 

Program Notes:

My Brass Quintet was commissioned by Western Michigan University for the Western Brass Quintet on the occasion of the School of Music’s 100th anniversary. The Western Brass Quintet premiered the work in January of 2013. The piece consists of two contrasting movements. The first movement, Distant Fanfares, is marked sustained and mysterious. It begins with only three of the players on stage playing a low, throbbing, sustained C. The trumpets begin their distant fanfare off stage and gradually move on stage as the music slowly builds in intensity. Each instrument is given a short solo passage before they all eventually join in to create a richer texture. The second movement, Concurrence, is marked marcato and relentless. This scherzo-like movement features a repeated note figure creating a sustained pulse, while the instruments bounce around it creating various syncopations. The concurrence happens when all the instruments come together on the repeated note figure to form various and ever changing harmonies.

 

-- Pierre Jalbert