The Dynamic Duo (album) [audio download]

Description

So, ‘we two Johns’ buckled down to our task to learn new pieces despite our British predilection for never getting past the sightreading stage. Perseverando became our motto, we found the right instruments for the Holloway, which sounded better, more incisive in C, than Bb, and we found that the St Jacome sounded so much better when we bent over backwards to capture the sonority of the 19th century by playing instruments of the period. The Bellon then had to be played on the very earliest instruments we could put our hands on, which happened to be in the John Webb Collection at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and despite the difficulties of sourcing the written notes on an instrument with only two valves, the sound world these magnificent instruments conjured up was closer to the time of the ancient lurs than to the present day. In adversity, we discovered that there is much great music written for trumpet duet and inspire the hope that these recordings will stimulate others to play this music and derive as much pleasure from it as have ‘we two Johns’.

We are delighted, therefore, to also offer free downloadable copies of the Saint-Jacome and Bellon duet books that have been used in this recording.  The Holloway can be purchased directly from Boosey & Hawkes.

TRACKLIST:

Robin Holloway (b.1943) Sonata for 2 Trumpets (2000)
1. I. Prelude

2. II. Melody with Echo

3. III. Toccata, Intermezzo, and Fugue

Louis-Antoine Saint-Jacome (1830 – 1898) 12 Celebrated Duets from New & Modern Grand Method for the Cornet à Pistons (1879)
4. No. 1 Allegretto

5. No. 2 Alla breve

6. No. 3 Moderato

7. No. 4 Allegro Moderato

8. No. 5 Andante – Minuetto (Vivace) – Trio (Sostenuto) – Minuetto

9. No. 6 Fugato

10. No. 7 Lento Cantabile Grazioso – Polacca – Minore – Polacca 

11. No. 8 Allegro Moderato

12. No. 9 Poco Adagio – Allegretto leggiero

13. No. 10 Moderato ma non troppo

14. No. 11 Andante – Variation 1 (un poco più vivo) – Var.2 (animato) – Var.3 (triplets) – Var.4 (semiquavers) – Var. 5 (minoré/più lento) – cadenza ad libitum – Andante tempo primo

15. No.12 Moderato leggiero e grazioso – Lento – Scherzando – RONDO Scherzando

Jean-François Bellon (1795-1869) Trois Duo Concertans Pour Pistons, Op. 17 (1834) 

1er DUO
16. i.Allegro moderato

17. ii. Andante

18. iii. Rondo

2me DUO
19. i. Maestoso

20. ii. Andante

21. iii. Rondo

3me DUO
22. i. Andante

23. ii. Barcarolle

24. iii. Rondo Menuetto

PROGRAMME NOTES:

Robin Holloway (b.1943) Sonata for 2 trumpets (2000)

John Miller: Malone/Yamaha (prototype) C trumpet (1991)
John Wallace: Schilke C7 (1966) 

Recording production and sound engineering: Bob Whitney
Recording location: The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, Studio A
Recording date: 20 January 2022

programme notes by John Wallace

Looking back to the dying embers of the twentieth century, when all was sweetness and light, I was still on the International Trumpet Guild (ITG) board, and the board at that time, stimulated by great forward-looking thinkers such as past-Presidents Joyce Davis and Kim Dunnick, thought that the trumpet was due for a transfusion of new repertoire to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Guild in 1975. Looking through my diaries has stimulated memories of Joyce and Kim getting together with myself and Ed Carroll at Ed’s Lake Placid trumpet seminars in Summer 1996 to shoot the breeze on how best to go about this project. As is my wont, I willingly drew the short straw, set up an ITG new music commissions group, and returned to the UK to assemble a distillation of Joyce, Kim and Ed’s ideas.

The criteria to the composers were that their stuff had not only to be great fun to play, but it was to provide a serious listening experience which might serve to elevate the esteem in which our instrument and its players were held. Ten pieces were commissioned, two for solo trumpet, three for two trumpets and 5 with piano accompaniment. Since I had a history of perpetrating first performances by major composers and had managed to maintain quite a good relationship with them despite mangling their music beyond recognition, I was handed the task of herding the cats. In the end so many of the composers were with Boosey & Hawkes it proved the most expedient route was to partner with this one major publishing house and its stable of composers. That way the volume would stay in print as close to perpetuity in a rapidly innovating publishing environment, as it has indeed done to the present day, a good result for the ITG. 

Jonathan Lloyd’s brazen piece for two trumpets was given the uncompromising title Go Blow Your Own by the incorrigibly gung-ho composer. This title raised a few eyebrows around the ITG board table (no such thing as a ‘virtual meeting’ back then, we were so boring we only had ‘meetings’). I liked this title so much that I recommended the whole volume be given this appropriately inappropriate title, hoping that the stunned silence meant that they realised that I came from so far away on the other side of ‘the boonies’ that I didn’t get the double entendre and so argument was pointless. In Scotland we call this the ‘daft laddie’ approach and it worked so well for me on this occasion that I adopted this approach many times subsequently when I was promoted soon after well beyond my comfort zone into the Principalship of the Royal Conservatoire. 

Most of the composers whom I communicated with got the point that a volume including ten composers meant, force majeur, that their pieces had to be within page and time restraints of a maximum 6 minutes or so. And I was relaxed enough to allow a lot of latitude because we wanted our composers to have the opportunity to get their teeth into whatever they were writing. However, I hadn’t accounted for the fact that Robin Holloway is one of the most passionate composers on the planet, bursting with endless melody – his music needs the broadest canvas possible for his expansive ideas. He came in with a wonderful piece for solo trumpet op. 94a (subsequently recorded by Håkan Hardenberger on BIS-CD- 1281), that, at about 25 minutes long, was probably at that time beyond more than about half a dozen players in the world, and difficult to programme into the bargain, because of lack of solo opportunity slots and the chance to develop the requisite chops. So, I recommended to Robin that he revise it for two trumpets and that he would get most performances if we only included the second movement, Melody with Echo, in the album. In the end Boosey’s published both solo and duet versions separately as op. 94a and 94b, Melody with Echo went in the album and it worked out. 

However, I think that, in retrospect, the entire solo piece and the duet sonata have not had as many performances as I expected they would have had, and this wonderful music deserves to have many more full performances from beginning to end as an iconic and special part of the repertoire. Robin’s music has irresistible momentum. And after all, twenty-first century players have transcended the limitations of inadequate technique we twentieth-century duffers displayed. So here is something for you all you twenty-first century tyros to get your teeth into. 

Both John Miller and I are biased towards Robin’s music, of course, having attended the same educational establishment as him, Kings College, Cambridge, but we took to his piece like ducks to water. It is in three movements: 

I Prelude
Slowish: meditative: poco liberamente

II Melody with Echo
Open; semplice; con moto lilting and dolce

III Toccata, intermezzo, and fugue
Lento non troppo: maestoso 

The first movement is full of sinuous rubato, with both instruments teasing each other into increasingly voluptuous phrase shapes. Fabulously satisfying to play with another trumpet player and full of incident for the listener.

The second movement is the best known and the off-stage effect is one of the best instances of ‘distance lending enchantment’ in the trumpet repertory. 

The third movement is a compelling, structural, tour de force. The two driving finale elements of toccata and fugue are interrupted by an intermezzo before gathering momentum to an irresistible conclusion. 

My 1999 first impression of Robin’s original solo piece was of feeling overwhelmed by the number of notes. However, through performing his work with John Miller finally in duet form for my ITG colleagues in this recording, this has been supplanted by the feeling that Robin has not wasted one note.  He has given we trumpet players a total masterpiece.  

Louis-Antoine Saint-Jacome (1830-1898) Celebrated Duets
(from the 1879 New & Modern Grand Method for the Cornet à Pistons, Lafleur Alliance Musicale) 

John Miller: Courtois Paris Levy model (c1872-76)
John Wallace: Bayley New Model Acoustic Cornet (1862)

Recording production and sound engineering: Bob Whitney
Recording location: The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, Studio A
Recording date: 20 February 2022

programme notes by Sandy Coffin

Louis-Antoine Saint-Jacome was born in Paris on 13 May 1830, and studied trumpet with François Dauverné at the Paris Conservatoire. He earned a 2me Prix in 1856 and a 1er Prix in 1858. He served as a cornetist and conductor with the musique militaire of the Garde nationale, and was a prominent cornet soloist in Paris (as well as performing on the flageolet and violin). He moved to London around 1869, where he continued performing, composing and conducting. Many of his works were published by Lafleur & Sons, including his original Grand Method, first published in 1870 as part of their ‘Alliance Musicale’ series.

These Celebrated Duets are performed as found in Book Three of an original copy of the first edition of the New & Modern Grand Method for the Cornet à Pistons (1879). The method is divided into three books of progressive difficulty. Book One addresses the fundamentals of music reading and cornet playing. It includes simple duets. Book Two contains ‘duos concertantes’ that offer challenging melodic material that include different metres and musical concepts. Some of these are in fact from the Bellon Duo Concertans, op. 17, although not attributed as such. The Celebrated Duets, then, are the culmination of a series of progressively challenging duets addressing a variety of musical concepts and styles throughout the three volumes. This section of the method focuses on providing substantial material for advanced students to develop their capacity for musicality as well as addressing the fundamentals of ensemble playing. They are extremely satisfying to play.

Jean-François Bellon (1795-1869) Trois Duo Concertans Pour Pistons, op 17 (1834)

John Miller: JH Ebblewhite (Gautrot aine) 3 valve cornet (c1850)
John Wallace: Labbaye 2 valve cornet (1830-48)
Instruments from the John Webb Collection at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Recording production and sound engineering: Bob Whitney
Recording location: The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, Studio A
Recording date: 20 February 2022

programme notes by Sandy Coffin

Jean-François Bellon was a French violinist, conductor, composer, and inventor. He was born in Lyon, France on 30 May 1795. By 1822, Bellon was enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire, studying violin with Rodolphe Kreutzer. He was awarded a 2me prix for violin in 1822 and the 1er prix in 1823. He also studied composition with Anton Reicha. Bellon served as the chef de musique at the Théâtre Gaieté in Paris from 1829-32, during which time he composed music for at least 3 theatre productions. He then became the concertmaster of the Concerts Musard orchestra from 1833. The renowned cornetist Louis Dufrène also worked in the Concerts Musard and may have influenced Bellon to write for the newly emerging chromatic brass instruments.

Bellon deposited his Trois Duos concertans pour Pistons, Oeuvre 17 with the director of the Conservatoire library in April 1834, a standard practice for new musical compositions. They are dedicated ‘to the Amateurs’ and the cover includes a note of intention that reads:

Note: These three Duos, which can be played on [cornet à] piston or horn, will be followed by seven other volumes, three Duos each, of progressive difficulty.

Each duo is in three movements, of which one is an Andante and the third of which is always a Rondo. The second movements of all three duos are in some form of compound meter (6/8 and 3/8); in the third duo, it is labelled Barcarolle. These are playable on instruments with 2 or 3 valves; there are only two instances, both in the Rondo of the second Duo, for which a third valve would generally be used. These duos have didactic as well as musical intent, presenting musical challenges useful for developing the ensemble skills of each player.

No further volumes of Duos have yet been positively identified. Saint-Jacome included five of the nine movements of this volume, without attribution and with only a few slight modifications, among the duets of Book 2 of his New and Modern Grand Method for the Cornet à Pistons, so these works were certainly known and used during Bellon’s lifetime. Bellon went on to write his 12 Quintettes for brass (published 1851), and numerous other works that included brass, using some ideas that are presented here.