Review

Alessandro Marcello
Concerto in D minor: for Brass Quintet

Arranged by Keith Terrett

trumpet in D, trumpet in C, horn in F, trombone, tuba

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2022
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

The surname Marcello is certainly one of great familiarity to most modern teachers and performers of brass music; however, it is far more likely that we are familiar with the works of the composer’s brother, the renowned Venetian composer Benedetto Marcello. Alessandro Marcello (1673-1747) was the older and longer-lived of the two siblings who were both Venetian Nobleman. Alessandro was also a noted composer and arguably his most renowned work is his Concerto in D minor for oboe, strings, and continuo. Though the first publication of the original instrumentation of the work was titled Concerto a Cinque (1717 in Amsterdam by Jeanne Roger) an earlier manuscript version of a keyboard arrangement of the concerto appears by no less than Johann Sebastian Bach in his BWV 974 dating from 1715. Though originally associated with the oboe and keyboard, this concerto by Alessandro Marcello was championed by the fantastic twentieth-century trumpet virtuoso Maurice Andre and has since become somewhat of a staple in the virtuoso trumpet repertoire.

This fine brass quintet arrangement features Trumpet 1 in D as the solo voice in the concerto. This virtuoso part requires fine breath control, stamina, and an elegant and refined sense of phrasing for the soloist. The work is structured in three movements. The first movement, Andante e spiccato, begins with a short unison introduction in the accompanimental voices. The soloist is given ample opportunity in this movement to demonstrate understated virtuosity, brilliance, and elegance of sound. Arranger Keith Terret has carefully notated ornamentation possibilities, though an accomplished and confident baroque performer may choose to further embellish the work. Trumpet 2 in C, though not a solo part, frequently serves as a secondary soloist of sorts and carries forward the melodic material in moments of rest in the solo voice, and in numerous moments supports the soloist with harmonization in rhythmic unison and in other instances with contrapuntal moments of countermelody.

The second movement Adagio is the expressive core of the work with flowing, lyrical, and expressive melodic material in the solo voice. The movement begins with an achingly beautiful pulsing introduction in the brass quintet. The texture here is very reminiscent of Marcello’s Venetian contemporary, Antonio Vivaldi, with an elegant, soaring melody that is underscored by rich, yearning harmonies.

The final Allegro moderato flows along in an elegantly lilting 3/8, gives both the soloist and ensemble moments to shine through with virtuosity, and perfectly brings the work to its conclusion.

The most significant, even virtuosic, range demands fall on the solo trumpet with the part ascending to d3 and descending no lower than d1, though rarely going any lower than a1. Trumpet 2 ascends to b-flat2 in the first movement, has a very conservative range in the second movement, and ascends to c3 in the final Allegro. Though the range demands are significantly less in the second trumpet part, there is very little rest in the work; there is in fact significantly more rest in the solo part. The horn part is generally conservative in range, ascends on one occasion to b-flat1 and descends to a low B-flat. The trombone part is conservative in register, almost entirely in the bass clef staff, and occasionally scored quite low, descending to low trigger C. The highest pitch is a very comfortable b-flat at the top of the bass clef staff in both the trombone and tuba parts, while the tuba part descends to an AA.

I highly recommend this attractive arrangement for inclusion in your brass quintet library as a charming feature for a virtuoso trumpet soloist.