This work has been performed a number of times by Ms. Abe on her American tours and, although it has only recently been released by Music for Percussion, it is becoming a standard in the repertoire of advanced marimba performers. The first 5 pages consist of rapid 32nd notes requiring the use of 4 mallets. A middle section in a more homophonic style, itself contrasted by several tempo changes, leads to the concluding section of rapidly moving 32nd note patterns. The 12-page composition should at least be explored by every serious marimba student.
- Michael Combs, October 1980
The highly virtuoso yet unstable work Bug was given its first performance on 6 February 1999 during Mériel festival by its dedicatee Philippe Soured. It is a musical metaphor of the disarray caused by an imaginary computer break-down (fortunately not predicting what might have happened on 31 December 1999). Although at the outset most of the rhythmic formulas are multiples of a common unity (the semiquaver), the music becomes less regular with the appearance of specific dynamics which often contradict the melodic profile. Similarly the numerous trills, bisbigliandi and varied articulations all contribute to give a feeling of extreme density to these opening bars.
Progressively the music seems to escape from the performer, and rapid passages replace the regular beat of the start of the work. Following a brief moment of calm, virtuosity comes to the fore, leading to a point of no return, a high note played ffff. Everything seems to disintegrate at this point, with disorientating quarter-tones, as if the pitches were melting into one another. The piece concludes with sustained notes, the sole survivors of the micro-tonal melodies.
Armenian composer, Alexander Arutunian, finished his famous trumpet concerto in 1950. The concerto was written for Russian trumpeter Timofei Dokshizter, who was a very technically advanced musician. Dokshitzer proved to the world that the trumpet could be as soloistic as the violin or voice. The bombastic nature, and the extended cadenza of this piece, is meant to show off the abilities of the famous trumpeter. His playing style developed out of a love for opera, and his musical phrasing and technique while performing surely emulates this. The trumpet concerto showcases the style of Eastern European writing. The Armenian and Russian sound can easily be heard in the beautiful lyric melodies and the lively double tonguing passages. Arutunian’s trumpet concerto is considered to be a hallmark in the trumpet repertoire.
Così fan tutte has made listeners both delighted and yet troubled. Of course this was all by design, and that may be why the depth of both Mozart’s musical score and da Ponte’s libretto make this arguably Mozart’s greatest achievement in opera. One splendid example of this bi-polar, humorous, and extraordinary music is “Come scoglio” (“Like a rock”) in Act I sung by Fiordiligi, Ferrando’s lover. Don Alphonso has arranged for Fiordiligi and Dorabella to believe that Ferrando and Guglielmo have been called off to war suddenly. Then, dressed in disguise as two “Albanians,” Ferrando and Guglielmo return and begin wooing the other’s sweetheart. Fiordiligi, at least initially, will have nothing of it, and crows about it.
Mozart begins the aria with an almost martial call to arms – a very peacocking moment. Then comes a delightful lyrical section that is almost inane, yet so charming that it keeps us smiling. The aria switches between these two types of music with a kind of over-the-top drama. It’s a great example of the type of opera-stopping solos that permeated 18th Century opera, but the aria is simultaneously parodying them. With this brilliantly uncanny mix of bravura with lyrical charm, Mozart’s music can’t quite allow you to believe Fiordiligi’s protestations, even while she must accomplish some extremely difficult musical passages: large interval leaps, and drops and runs up and down a two-octave range. “Come scoglio” is definitely one of Mozart’s greatest hits.
Among the many gifted composers and performers from the Czech lands who enriched the musical life of the mid-18th century was Johann Baptist Georg Neruda, born around 1711 in Rosice, Moravia, near Brno, about thirty miles north of the border with Austria. Neruda was from a musical family — his brother, Jan Chryzostomus, was a violinist and later choirmaster of Prague’s Strahov Monastery — and he was trained as a violinist and cellist in Prague, where he spent several years performing in theater orchestras before entering the service of Count Rutowski in Dresden in 1741 or 1742. He became concertmaster of the Dresden court orchestra in 1750 and remained in that post until his retirement in 1772; he died in Dresden four years later. Neruda composed nearly a hundred works, including an opera, church music, some three-dozen pieces in the gestating form of the symphony, numerous trio sonatas and fourteen concertos that were widely disseminated throughout northern Europe in both manuscripts and printed editions. Two of his sons became violinists in the Dresden court orchestra.
The Concerto in E-flat major, Neruda’s best-known work, was originally written for the valveless horn of the late 18th century (then known as corno di caccia — “hunting horn” — to denote its sylvan associations) but it is most commonly performed today on trumpet. It was written during the years of transition from the Baroque to the Classical era, and shows traits of both the old and new styles: its harmonic and melodic components are largely of the modern type, while certain formal characteristics and modes of expression look back to the models of preceding generations. Each of the Concerto’s three movements is rooted in the old ritornello form, in which an orchestral refrain returns (ritorno in Italian) to separate the soloist’s intervening episodes. There are three such formal alternations in both the opening Allegro and the closing Vivace, with the last solo episode in each culminating in a cadenza. The slow tempo of the central Largo allows for only two solo episodes, with the second rounded out by a cadenza.
©2021 Dr. Richard E. Rodda
Like Mozart's other violin concertos, this is an early work. It dates from December of 1775, when the composer was nineteen years old. Who it was written for is not known, but it is possible that, among others, Mozart himself may have played it, since he was said to be an accomplished violinist.
The first movement of Concerto No. 5 quickly presents us with formal peculiarities that are odd for the period. Following the tutti exposition, the solo violin enters with a tempo change from Allegro aperto to Adagio, completely altering the mood. When the allegro returns we discover that what appeared to be the first theme of the Concerto (a rising arpeggio in the violins) turns out to be an accompaniment to what is the true first theme stated in the solo violin. Aside from these anomalies, the remainder of the first movement follows the processes of sonata form.
Alexander Arutunian began writing a trumpet concerto for Zolak Vartasarian, but the soloist was killed in military action during World War II before Arutunian was able to finish the piece. Instead, Russian trumpeter Timofei Dokschitzer performed the premiere in 1950. When Dokschitzer immigrated to the United States, he brought Arutunian’s concerto with him. It has since gained popularity and is now known as a staple in the trumpet literature. Arutunian’s compositions are colorful with folk-like melodies. The freely developed and narrative qualities of the 18th century Armenian minstrels, called ashug, are emulated in his music.
Concerto for Trumpet is a single movement that moves through contrasting sections without pause. The brief introduction contains a chromatic melody rich in Armenian folk influences. The first section incorporates two themes, one dance-like and one lyrical, before moving to a romantically-inspired second section. All of the melodies and introductory material are developed at length throughout the work. Finally, a return of the festive opening theme prepares a dazzling solo cadenza and the concerto’s resounding conclusion.