Review

Jack Cooper
Five Scenes for Brass Quintet:

Farmington, NM, United States
Publisher: Brassworks 4 Publishing
Date of Publication: 2010
URL: http://www.brassworks4.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

This dynamic quintet is comprised of five separate movements, each in quite different styles. The first movement is a fanfare primarily in 4/4 meter that blends overlapping legato and accented passages while providing brief solo passages for trumpets and trombone. The second movement, titled Somberly, is slower requiring bucket mutes for the cylindrical brass. This movement is comprised of alternating eighth-note passages passed from instrument to instrument, and features a short tuba solo passage. The third movement, Fugue, does begin as a fugue before developing into a mostly homophonic piece with varied articulations and an explosive conclusion. In the fourth movement, Shapes, Forms, and Shadows, multiple, brief simultaneous improvisation sections played by all instruments, are separated by frantic, trumpet passages. The improvisation sections contain pitch suggestions. A rhythmic, Latin dance movement concludes the piece.

Ranges are comfortable for a quintet of strong players; trumpets do not exceed d-flat3, trombone c-flat2; horn and tuba function in a medium range. However, the length of the piece, the amount of time some of the instruments remain in the upper-medium range, the varied meters, articulations, and fast rhythmic passages make this work most suitable for a strong collegiate or professional quintet. Clearly printed with detailed articulation specifications, the piece is highly dissonant, somewhat atonal, and uses accidentals in lieu of key signatures. It could effectively close a concert of modern music played for a mature audience if the program is big enough to accommodate it. The varied nature of each movement is quite interesting. 

-James Adams
Valley City State University