That's Brass. This work is dedicated to the Blechreiz brass quintet on their 10th anniversary. Each musician is pushed to the limits in this very challenging composition. Rhythmically exposed passages that mesh together in a continuous sixteenth-note groove, alternate with solo passages and a catchy chorus. In the middle of the composition a waltz suddenly sounds but the ensemble is brought to its senses by the tube player s evident disapproval and the music soon returns to the original style. Demanding, tongue-in-cheek and witty passages with a funky groove are the ingredients of this new work by Otto M. Schwarz for brass quintet.
SKU: HL.4008565
UPC: 196288180029.
Composer Otto M. Schwarz completed his first Concerto for trumpet in October 2009. Schwarz displays a special knack in writing for this instrument, thanks to his trumpet studies undertaken with Professor Josef Pomberger at the Music Conservatory in Vienna. Concerto for Trumpet No. 1 'Trumpet Town' was commissioned by the police-orchestra of Upper Austria, under the baton of Andreas Schwarzenlander. The work was premiered on 17 November 2009. The soloist for the evening was trumpeter Franz Wagnermeyer, who also studied at the Vienna Conservatory and who currently performs with, amongst others, the international group “Ten of the Bestâ€. A rapid flourish in 12/8 time opens Concerto for Trumpet No. 1 'Trumpet Town'. The metric changes that follow affect the pulse rhythmically and melodically, in exciting and unexpected ways. The solo trumpet's displays of technical prowess and bravura alternate with the film-score-like tutti sections of the brass ensemble. The slow, almost elegiac, central section can be performed on the flugel horn, while the closing reprise demands that both the soloist and the orchestra give of their best as the piece comes to an exciting, colourful, and uplifting finale. This piece is also available for trumpet and piano.
SKU: HL.4007972
Stories, sagas and legends--who among us doesn't know them? Always delivered with a tinge of brutality, these cautionary tales are a legacy of moral education from times past: inquisitive children alone in the forest are generally eaten by a witch; the Soup-Kasper of Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter dies from starvation rather than eating his soup; anyone letting in strangers usually gets devoured; anyone who plays with matches gets burned; and thumb-suckers get their thumbs cut off. The list of unfortunate demises is almost endless.In the tale of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, parents lose their children through greed, ridicule, scorn and a failure to appreciate art. There is still a street in the town of Hamelin in which neither drumming nor playing has not been allowed since 130 children disappeared into a mountain, never to be seen again. This composition by Otto M. Schwarz opens with exactly this scene, taking us back to the year 1284. As in many towns at the time, Hamelin in Germany suffered with hygiene problems--rats and mice began to multiply rapidly, and the town was overrun with the plague. There appeared a man dressed in colorful clothes who promised the locals to free them from this burden. They agreed and settled on a fee. Then the man pulled out a pipe and began to play. When the rats and mice heard this, they followed him. He led the animals into the Weser River, where they all drowned. Back in town, the people refused to pay him. They didn't recognize this man's skills and knowledge and were only prepared to pay for simple labour. A pact with the devil was made, which led to the Pied Piper leaving the town in a furious rage. One Sunday, when many people were at church, he returned, took out his flute and began to play. The town's children were so enchanted by his playing that they followed him. He led them out of the town and disappeared with them forever into a mountain. Of all the children, only two survived--however one was mute, and one was blind. In the street from which the children left Hamelin, music may no longer be played in memory of this event.
