Beyond the Moon

Separated by Space consists of three different movements that were individually conceived between 2001 and 2005. Beyond the Moon was written during my second year at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. One of Jack Sutte’s trumpet students asked me to write a new work for him, and Jack immediately took notice of the piece. He was the very first professional musician to express interest in my music, for which I am still most grateful. The other two movements may note have been written had Jack not encouraged be to do so.

Beyond the Moon is by far the most lyrical of all three movements. It is American in spirit and contains two different melodies woven throughout. The opening of the piece (trumpet plays inside the piano as the pianist keeps the sustain pedal down) introduces the material that later becomes the second melody. The first melody is announced after a series of rising and falling chords played by the pianist. This melody is more heroic in spirit, whereas the second melody is somber and more introverted.

Who’s There? was written in the fall of 2003, which marked my first semester in the master’s program at Juilliard. I was enrolled in a collaborative class for composers and choreographers, and I was required to write a new piece for a choreographer. Previously, Jack had asked for another movement, and I thought it would be fun to write this next movement knowing that someone was going to interpret it through dance. Because of this, I wanted a much more rhythmic, and lively piece. The movement is conceived in three sections: fast and square, slow and atmospheric, and fast and accented. The middle section also requires the trumpeter to play inside the piano. I wanted to find a way to somehow connect the two movements, since they were written two years apart from each other.

Sighting was conceptualized to not only function as the last movement of Separated by Space, but also as an individual encore piece. It is short, fast, and a little quirky!

The music of composer Adam Schoenberg (b. November 15, 1980) has been hailed as “stunning” (Memphis Commercial Appeal), “open, bold, and optimistic” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and with an ability to create “mystery and sensuality” (New York Times). As the newest member of the Atlanta School of Composers, Schoenberg has received three commissions from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with premieres scheduled through 2013. In 2011, the Kansas City Symphony, under the direction of Michael Stern, will premiere American Symphony. Schoenberg was a 2010 and 2009 MacDowell Fellow. In October of 2010, the American Brass Quintet released a recording of Schoenberg’s Brass Quintet celebrating their 50 th Anniversary. He was the First Prize winner at the 2008 International Brass Chamber Music Festival for best Brass Quintet, resulting in the publication of his quintet by Brass Chamber Music. In 2007, Schoenberg was awarded ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Juilliard’s Palmer-Dixon Prize for Most Outstanding Composition, and a Meet the Composer. He received the 2006 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Schoenberg earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Juilliard School, where he studied with John Corigliano and Robert Beaser.

sleep cycle began as two lullabies, one for each of Jack’s children. Each lullaby develops a musical model for going to sleep: in one, intervals expand and harmonies gradually become less dense, in the other, a gradual descent in register parallels harmonic relaxation. Each lullaby therefore supplied a musical character, and from the interplay – pun intended – of those characters, the suite evolved: “late play,” a scrambling game of chase; reverie dream-like, fleeting distortions of music from the lullabies over a chaconne; and finally, a the reveille, a fanfare rousing the two children from the confusion of first waking. The work is dedicated to Jack and his family.

Robert Pound’s numerous compositions include orchestral works for the Atlanta Symphony (Irrational Exuberance, 2005) and the Columbus (GA) Symphony, which commissioned a luminous jewel lone (2002) jointly with the River Center for the Performing Arts in celebration of the venue’s opening. Pound has received commissions from such distinguished ensembles as the Corigliano Quartet, the Timaeus Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, and the Florestan Recital Project. His works have also been featured by the Verge Ensemble (Washington, DC), the New Juilliard Ensemble, and at Foundation Bemberg (Toulouse, France). The work of this recording is Pound’s third composition for his friend, trumpeter Jack Sutte. Previous compositions for trumpet include: Post-jurisimprudence Conferentiality for solo trumpet (1994), Diptych for Trumpet and Organ (1998), and Music for Trumpet (2000). His works for brass also include a suite for trombone quartet, Oedipus at Colonus in Nine Fragmentary Tableaux (2008).

In March 2002, Pound was Composer in Residence at Columbus State University. He was guest composer and lecturer at the University of North Texas, April 2010. Also active as a conductor, Pound is currently the Director of the Dickinson Orchestra (Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA) and guest conductor with Verge (the performing ensemble of the Contemporary Music Forum, Washington, DC) with whom he performed at the June in Buffalo Festival in 2009.

Pound holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School. He was a Fellow in the conducting class at Tanglewood Music Center in the summer of 2003.

David Loeb (b. 1939, New York) studied composition with Peter Pindar Stearns at the Mannes College of Music in New York and later studied Japanese music with Shinichi Yuize. He has taught at Mannes since 1964 and also taught at the Curtis Institute of Music (1973-2000). In addition to a large number of works for conventional media, he has also composed extensively for Asian instruments (especially Japanese) and for early instruments (especially viols). Vienna Modern Masters has released fifteen CDs of his works with other currently in production.

Loeb wrote several works for trumpet in the mid-seventies in response to requests from some very eager students. In addition to these pieces he also wrote a suite for trumpet unaccompanied, a piece for two trumpets and piano (later withdrawn) a partita for four trumpets, a piece for trumpet and percussion, a piece for trumpet and string quartet and a piece for trumpet and string orchestra. loebd@newschool.edu

Jack Sutte played the first trumpet part in the premiere of Partita for four trumpets, and also gave the first performance of the trumpet and string quartet work.

Frenetic Dream was written for Jack Sutte in 2001. Frenetic Dream makes use of a minimal amount of material (stated in the opening) which is then manipulated in various ways, first in a percussive manner and then more lyrical and romantic. The outer parts have a jagged rhythmic drive while the middle section has lyric melodic lines over perpetual motion. “HyeKyung’s music shows a penchant for colorful timbres, expressive lines, and lively rhythmic interaction of instruments. The result is a darkly expressive music….” (Don Womack)

HyeKyung Lee (born Seoul, Korea) graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (DMA in Composition/Performance in Piano), where she studied with Donald Grantham, Dan Welcher, Russell Pinkston, and Stephen Montague. She also studied with Bernard Rands at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and Ladislav Kubik at the Czech-American summer Music Institute in Prague. An accomplished pianist, HyeKyung has performed her own compositions and others in numerous contemporary music festivals and conferences in the United States, Europe, and Korea. Her music can be found on Vienna Modern Masters, Innova Recordings, New Ariel Recordings, Capstone Recordings, Mark Custom Recordings, Aurec Recordings, Equilibrium Recordings, Vox Novus, and SEAMUS CD Vol. 8. Her commissioned work, Dreaming in Colors was written for the first Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition for young women bassoonists in 2005, and Mystic River was written for the 31^st Renée B. Fisher Piano Competition in 2010. Currently she is Assistant Professor of Music at Denison University, Granville, Ohio.

Capriccio opens with unhurried, soaring lines flowing at a natural pace. These expansive phrases build to a middle section which features brilliant, rapid patterns and sudden changes of character. The movement closes with a Lontano section in which the distant trumpet, using the “softest possible mute,” is juxtaposed with a thunderous piano strike. Repetitions of a low piano tone gradually fade until the muted trumpet remains alone.

Elegy weaves expressive, dark-toned melodies between the trumpet and piano. Two powerful outbursts from both instruments interrupt the brooding pace. The mesto mood returns, dissipates, and flows to a tranquil end.

Imitations spins angular imitative lines in joyous interplay briefly calmed by a barcarolle reminiscent of the Elegy. The piano reinvigorates the movement with frolicsome imitative ideas to which the trumpet responds. Rhythmic tension builds, bringing their voices together in a dancing conclusion. – Jack Sutte

Jack Sutte and Laurent Boukobza gave the premier performance of Reynold’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano on April 29, 2010 at the University of Central Florida.

Verne Reynolds (1926-2011) began his music education at the age of 8 by studying piano. When he was 13 years of age he took up the horn. He served in the US Navy as a musician mostly playing piano for dance band gigs. Following his years of service, he entered the Cincinnati Conservatory where he studied piano, horn, and composition, eventually becoming a composition major. Following his graduation, he auditioned for the Cincinnati Symphony and won a position in the horn section. After three seasons he accepted a teaching position at the University Wisconsin-Madison. While in Madison he also earned a master’s degree in Composition.

The early 1950s brought a Fullbright Scholarship at Royal College of Music in London. While there, Reynolds studied horn with phenom Dennis Brain. Back in the states he accepted a teaching position at Indiana University and then finally moved to the Eastman School of Music. This brought with it the opportunity to perform as principal horn of the Rochester Philharmonic, the American Woodwind Quintet, and the Eastman Brass Quintet. The ensembles at the Eastman School provided wonderful opportunities for Reynolds to play his craft of composition.

There can be found three general styles in Reynolds’ career. Influences include Hindemith in the 1950s, Dodecaphonic in the 1960s and Free Style, using any techniques he knows from the 1970s, until he ceased composing. The Sonata for Trumpet and Piano falls into the later category and is considered to be one of his last compositions.

– Dr. Patricia Backhaus