Category: SOLOS - B♭. Cornet/Trumpet with Piano Composer: Philip Sparke
This new composition for solo trumpet by renowned composer Philip Sparke explores many aspects of trumpet playing and in particular its lyrical and technical possibilities. It is a two movement piece but either movement can be played separately if a shorter solo is required. The ‘theme’ of the piece is a weekend in New York with the opening bluesy movement, Saturday Serenade, describing the city on a Saturday night, perhaps in a smoke-filled jazz bar. While composing the second movement, Sunday Scherzo, the composer pictured an early morning jog in Central Park. A must for all trumpet players. This work is also available for trumpet and concert band.
Categories: SOLOS - B♭. Cornet/Trumpet with Piano, Michael Bennett Collection Composer: Michael Bennett
Duration 6.06 Grade
A Mastrick Farewell for trumpet in Bb and piano is a piece about loss. Not only the loss of a sibling but also the loss of innocence.
After a short piano introduction the trumpet enters playing a lament with a simple drone accompaniment on the piano. A bridge passage leads to a recapitulation of the lament but this time accompanied by chords. The piano then repeats the lament in the high octave which sounds like a child’s musical toy. The trumpet returns with a dramatic new theme with accompanying accented octaves on the piano and this style continues during the recapitulation of the original theme. The piece draws to a close with the muted trumpet playing a slower version of the lament with simple but effective arpeggios on the piano.
Categories: NEW & RECENT Publications, SOLOS - B♭. Cornet/Trumpet with Piano Composer: Rugerro Leoncavallo Arranger: Eric Wilson
There’s something about Italian vocal music that is well-suited to brass instruments; whether it is vibrant bravura writing or a soaring cantilena. Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Mattinata (Morning or Morning Serenade, to be more poetic) certainly soars and captures the sparkle of a bright new day. The lyrics (by the composer himself) are a greeting from a lover to his partner urging her to awaken and come to him – sunlight is missing without her!
The music is suitably bright and cheery, becoming slightly more grandiose toward the end. In arranging it for trumpet I wanted to provide players with something in D major that wasn’t a Baroque trumpet tune and featured lyrical yet agile lines.
The song has the distinction of being the first written especially for recording. That recording was made by the Gramophone and Typewriter Company (known today as HMV) in Milan Italy in 1903 and features the great Enrico Caruso accompanied by the composer at the piano. You can listen to it at https://archive.org/details/mattinata1903 although there are countless modern recordings to listen to as well. Some tempo markings are given in parenthesis and I’d urge players explore their own interpretation.