[.ca] Winter: Music of Eric Ewazen and David Snow

Elegant Trumpet Music Elegantly Played:
I love everything about this CD. It is primarily a solo album by Chris Gekker, one of the finest trumpet players around. I've known his playing since he arrived in Kansas City more than twenty-five years ago, a kid just out of school, to assume the second trumpet chair in our local symphony. He went on to become a long-time member of the American Brass Quintet, to play in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. He is now professor of trumpet at the University of Maryland. His playing just gets better and better. This CD consists of pieces by Eric Ewazen (one of my favorite composers for brass whose neo-romantic music has been commissioned repeatedly by the ABQ and whose concerto disc on Albany featuring the International Sejong Soloists rated a rave from me and others) and David Snow, a composer new to me. It turns out that Gekker, Ewazen and Snow have known each other since they were students together at Eastman in the 1970s; in fact, Gekker and Snow were roommates. Ewazen is represented by 'Three Lyrics for Trumpet and Piano,' 'Elegia,' 'An Elizabethan Songbook' (which also features trombonist Milt Stevens; his and Gekker's duets are delectable in this music), 'Aftershock,' and 'A Hymn for the Lost and the Living.' Snow's contributions are the four-movement 'Winter' for trumpet and piano (which gives this album its title) and 'A Baker's Tale.' The fine assisting pianists are Ted Guerrant and an old acquaintance from the Aspen Music Festival, Rita Sloan. All of the players are in one way or another associated with the strong school of music at the University of Maryland. Ewazen's music is notable for its unfailingly beautiful melodies (and here Gekker is in his element; his lyrical playing is very nearly in a class of its own) and piquant harmonies. Snow's is rather more jazz-inflected (and indeed he has recorded his own jazz CD entitled, I'm not kidding, 'Larry, the Stooge in the Middle'). The overall tone of the entire 70:12 minute CD is gently songful, although there are some occasional dramatic and rollicking moments. If you have the idea that trumpet music is always martial, you need this CD as an antidote: this is lovely and contemplative music-making. Highly recommended. Scott Morrison

• Three Lyrics for Trumpet and Piano
• Winter
• Elegia
• An Elizabethan Songbook
• A Baker's Tale
• Aftershock
• A Hymn for the Lost and the Living