METTLE – SonataPalooza I

The bold idea of the SonataPalooza is to combine SonatenAbends (multiple sonata evenings) in a way that is fun and unusual. The title, METTLE, the first of the paloozas, is intentional – to describe the project’s scope (with fortitude, determination, and resolve) with the homonym wordplay of “metal.” Recorded at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory over the course of four, closely scheduled recitals in January 2019.

METTLE includes Sonatas for Trumpet and Piano by George Antheil, Eric Ewazen, Paul Hindemith, Jean Hubeau, Kent Kennan, David Loeb, Jiři Mittner, Flor Peeters, Karl Pilß, Harold Shapero, Leo Sowerby, and Halsey Stevens.

THE BACKSTORY – From the Ivories and Valves

Many sonatas are famously familiar to most trumpeters and lauded for their significance and importance. Unfortunately, those same works are unfamiliar to non-trumpeters, hidden in history as obscurities even in the broadest, thoughtful musical conversations. This project, conceived by Jack Sutte and Christine Fuoco, hopes to change those dialogs. We embraced the idea of a long-term sonata collaboration, realizing the artistic potentials in the genre, and the audacious idea to perform (and record) all the sonatas in this canon was struck. This first series is our start. The idea of the SonataPalooza was to combine Sonatenabends (multiple sonata evenings) in a way that was fun and unusual. These twelve sonatas in four closely scheduled concerts demanded new strategies for learning, rehearsing, performing, and recording. The title, METTLE, was chosen to describe the arduous undertaking of the project’s scope and spoke to our individual artistic endeavors.

“Mettle” is a person’s “ability to cope well with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way, having fortitude, determination, resolve, bravery, daring, fearlessness, courage, and grit.” This descriptive quality works for the trumpeter, the pianist, and the audience, and the homonym wordplay with “metal” is intentional.

Christine Fuoco

Pianist Christine Fuoco launched her dynamic career as a recitalist in Northeast Ohio and concertizes throughout the United States. She has performed with world-renowned opera singers Jane Eaglen and Nancy Maultsby, and with numerous members of The Cleveland Orchestra. In January 2019, Ms. Fuoco and Jack Sutte presented a four-concert recital series titled METTLE: SonataPalooza I, during which they performed and recorded twelve sonatas for trumpet and piano. Those works comprise the present four-disc set. In August 2019, they presented another four-concert series of twelve sonatas, titled REGALE: SonataPalooza II. Consistently expanding her contemporary music repertoire, Ms. Fuoco has performed significant works for saxophone and piano with Steven Banks, and in February 2020, premiered and recorded newly found saxophone and piano pieces by Pierre-Philippe Bauzin with Sean Murphy. 

A native of the Pacific Northwest, she earned a Biology degree (Pre-Med) at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, while studying piano with Duane Hulbert and James Barbagallo. Christine Fuoco holds a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Paul Schenly and received the prestigious Arthur Loesser Award for Excellence in both piano performance and academic achievement. Ms. Fuoco is a piano faculty member at the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.