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World Premiere of Gregory Spears's Concerto for Two Trumpets and Strings

Jun. 01, 2019

World Premiere of Gregory Spears's <em>Concerto for Two Trumpets and Strings</em>

On June 8, the world premiere of Gregory Spears's Concerto for Two Trumpets and Strings was performed by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, conducted by Eli Spindel, featuring trumpeters Brandon Ridenour and Andy Kozar. The work was commissioned by the BMI Foundation/Carlos Surinach Fund and Concert Artist Guild for Mr. Ridenour. Gregory Spears notes:

"Trumpet music to me has always been imbued by extra-musical meaning, invoking the sounds of pomp, of ceremony, of war or of formality. Perhaps for this reason, the trumpet, when it plays, often seems to be saying, or announcing something: an order, an invocation, a question, to the audience or perhaps into the void. For this concerto, I was hoping to write a piece that had no narrative, and yet would play with those associations and let them interact with one another in unexpected ways. Having two trumpets allowed for moments where the players call or command one another, or moments when they play catch with certain musical ideas, tossing melodic fragments back and forth across the orchestra. Also, I've always associated trumpets with music meant to be played outdoors. So I’ve tried to give the piece a pastoral quality, at times accompanied by a certain melancholy that can permeate a command or plea heard from a great distance." 
 

Listen to the finale from Gregory Spears's opera Paul's Case (2013) here:

(Finale from Paul's Case/Gregory Spears/Urban Arias/Robert Wood, conductor/Kevin Newbury, director)

To learn more about Gregory Spears, please visit schott-music.com. 

Gregory Spears
Concerto (2017)
for two trumpets and string orchestra
str(min.66552–basses with C extension)
15'

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