Triptych for solo trumpet and orchestra was written during the Spring of 1991 through a commission from the International Trumpet Guild. It is a three-movement work lasting approximately sixteen minutes. The form is similar to the Christian triptychs in which there is a central panel and two flanking panels half its size that fold over it. Often Mary and the Child occupy the center panel while worshipers gaze upon the scene from each of the two smaller panels. Although there is no religious content in Triptych, the focus of the entire work is on the center or Main Movement. It is the longest and most involved movement including two cadenzas and a variety of moods. The first movement or Introduction is intended to draw one into the second with dramatic and impulsive gestures that leave one feeling the need for more. The third movement or Conclusion serves as a coda with a quick tempo and flourishes in all of the instruments. Thematic material from the first movement is heard again but in a bolder, more positive guise and the work concludes with one more full orchestral outburst.
Three Sides for trumpet/flügelhorn, vibraphone and piano was written in 2010 for Raymond Mase, a prominent New York trumpeter. Three Sides, presented in three movements, is an amalgam of pointillism and lyricism. In addition, to add to the sound palette, the trumpet uses a metal straight mute to add bite to louder, more heavily articulated sections and silvery lines to lyrical passages. Also, the 2nd Movement is played entirely on the flügelhorn, which adds a warmer more intimate quality to the texture. This is accentuated by the vibraphone bowing the soundbars which creates beautiful, sustained pitches.
The Mysteries Remain is a four-movement work for trumpet and organ inspired by the poem “The Mysteries Remain” by H.D. or Hilda Doolittle. Although the form has no direct correlation to the poem, the titles of the four movements are derived from various extracted lines. Since I have a great interest in opera, an attempt is made to set a scene with each movement and follow through with a logical dramatic conclusion. The entire work is paced to allow the last movement to act as the climax and end the composition with a strong cathartic flourish.
Memories To Keep Awhile for trumpet/flügelhorn, violin, violoncello and piano was commissioned by and written for David Elton for premiere at the 2015 Australian Festival of Chamber Music. The title was taken from a label that my mother had placed on a box of photographs of my family when I was growing up in South Carolina and Virginia. She passed away a few years ago leaving me with all of the familys’ historical documents. It has been my responsibility to examine all of these photographs, slides, newspaper articles and films to decide what to keep and what to throw away. I am the family historian for my generation. My guess is that many of you have done this already and most of you will experience this in your lifetime. What I have found was that it stirred up a tremendous amount of varied emotions. I also found that when I saw the rather self-effacing label that my mother created for one of the boxes, I smiled at her wonderful attitude. She was correct in the observation that these cherished memories are cherished by only a few presently and will be only a curiosity to future generations.
Memories To Keep Awhile is divided into four movements which I call “photos” with the third and fourth “photo” played attacca, that is, without pause. I choose not to describe the actual photos, instead, allowing your imagination to create your own. The work is an attempt to aurally depict a small portion of what my familys’ lives have meant to each other.
