My Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra brings into play the traditional classical template of four contrasting movements (slow – fast – slow – fast) as a vehicle for the virtuosity and extraordinary talents of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Trumpet Brent Grapes.
Completed during the coronavirus pandemic, and facing the tyranny of distance due to border closures between Sydney and Perth, my ability to establish a collaborative composer/performer relationship with Brent was somewhat compromised.
Nigel Westlake. Photo © Steve Forrest.
We began swapping sound files and musical thoughts electronically, during which time I asked Brent about his favourite trumpet works. His list included iconic trumpet solos by George Gershwin, Astor Piazzolla, John Williams and the concertos of Tomasi (1948) and Arutiunian (1949). All these works share a common thread of accessibility and melodic lyricism, and they aspire to express sentiments such as nobility, humour and pathos amongst many others. It was particularly inspiring to hear recordings of Brent playing the Tomasi and Arutiunian concertos with WASO, his playing so natural, unforced and completely at home.
Thus, I settled on a plan to write a conventional work that plays...
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