Class listening 3/20/2017

Today in ABEL we listened to pieces for large brass ensemble

Malcolm Arnold- Symphony for Brass

1st movement starts mysteriosly
non traditional chord progressions

Doesn't sound like his quintet at all in the opening

At F the trumpet lick sounds like the end of his quintet

reminds me of Dahl Sextet for Brass


not a lot happening in the trombone lines

killer tuba, horn and trumpet solos


movement 2

at F he passes high trumpet duet motive to the tuba part. Interesting contrast in textures

more extended tuba solos before I

than back to high trumpet duet

movement 3

This sounds just like Dahl movement one with bombastic loud sustained chords st A
give way to a beautiful horn solo at B. Very lyrical and contrasts the opening statement.

Movement 4

Features a much softer contrast to movement three. Back to featuring solo lines snaking chromaticaly. At L the style goes back into more tutti articulated passages. At K it begins to sound like the second movement from his brass quintet.

The ending reminds me of the way he ends his brass quintet with dueling trumpets.
PJBE

This recording demonstates that the PJBE was willing to go out on a limb and record pieces that were more serious in nature. This symphony is pretty dense in both sound, and musical ideas. The playing of the PBJE is very good, but it sounds a little dated to my ear. To me at times, they are pushing the line on aggressive playing. I love listening to it, but it also strikes me as something that we would not necessarily go for.

Final thoughts,
To me as a listener this piece seems a little long winded, and hard to hard to follow. It jumps from one contrasting section to constrasting section but does not easily invite the listener to make musical connections with examining the score.

Tomasi Fanfare Liturigiques

Biblical titles to the movements

pieces dipict biblical stories

sacred brass choir version of an oratorio

movement one

great moments where just the horn section plays

sounds like four part bach chorals

Movement II

Gospel

fantastic extended trombone solo

starts out much like the Rimsky Korsakov trombone solo in Russian Easter Overture which also uses the trombone to depict religious conotation. This is like the trumpet sounding. The word of God.

Movement III

apocolypse

the four hoursemen

the percussion at the beginning depict the galloping of horses

Movement IV

we get the famouns des ira chant in the tuba and trombone. Just like Berlioz used in his Symphonie Fantastique

Much more coherent that the Arnold. Maybe because this piece is more programatically driven. It is more satisfying to me as a listener because I am not constantly in whiplash. Things seem to be more in line with my expectations.