The View from My Window
--Judson Scott, 1998, watercolor
The most basic performance challenge is to play one note perfectly, therefore, most warm-ups begin with long tones. The value in long tones is in the blowing; blowing against your best sound, undistracted by valves or motion of any kind. Learn to love the beautiful sound that you can make and always make a sound that you can love. Music is an art sculptured in sound and your tone color is the single most important element in your playing.
--Judson Scott
I
remember being a young trumpeter curious about the classical repertoire
but not knowing where to begin. Here is a list of works in various
styles with important trumpet parts. The list is in rough stylistic order, so if
you find a composer you like you might also like the one next to him. My first recordings were The Planets by
Holst, Sinfonietta by Janacek and a complete cycle of the Beethoven
symphonies; what are yours?
Gabrieli Canzonas and Sonatas
Bach: B Minor Mass
Christmas Oratorio
Magnificat
Brandenburg No.2
Telemann Trumpet Concerto
Handel Messiah
Water Music
Music for the Royal Fireworks
CLASSICAL
Haydn Trumpet Concerto
Hummel Trumpet Concerto
Beethoven: Symphonies 9, 7, 3
ROMANTIC
Brahms Symphony 2
Saint-Saens Symphony
3
Dvorak
Symphonies 9, 8, 7
Wagner
Prelude to Die Meistersinger
Siegfried Funeral Music
Prelude to Tannhauser
Bruckner: Symphonies 9, 8, 7, 6, 5
Mahler: Symphonies 5, 3, 6, 1, 2, 9, 7,
Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition
Holst:
Planets
Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4, 5, 6
Romeo and Juliet
Verdi Requiem
Respighi
Pines of Rome
Rimsky-Korsakov
Scheherazade
Capriccio Espagnol
Sibelius Symphonies 2, 5
Strauss:
Alpine Symphony
Death and Transfiguration
Don Juan
Ein Heldenleben
Till Eulenspeigal
Puccini
Tosca
(warning, this is an opera)
Ravel
Bolero
Debussy
Nocturnes
Gershwin An American in Paris
Rhapsodie in Blue
Concerto in F
CONTEMPORARY
Bartok Concerto for Orchestra
Copland
Fanfare
for the
Common Man
Rodeo
El Salon Mexico
Prokofiev Symphony 5
Romeo and Juliet
Shostakovich Symphonies 5,
1, 8, 10
Piano Concerto no. 1
Hindemith
Mathias der Maler
Symphonic Metamorphosis
Janacek
Sinfonietta
Lutoslawski
Concerto for Orchestra
Stravinsky
Petrouchka
Le Sacre du Printemps
Firebird
Octet for winds
L’Histoire du Soldat
A Few Recommended Recordings
The recordings listed below provide excellent examples of great brass playing, there are, of course, numerous additional examples. (OK, Jessye Norman is a vocalist not a brass player, but she creates such a huge, breath supported tone, that she is a good role model for any wind instrumentalist.)
http://cdbaby.com/cd/jamesdarling --Sonatas for Trumpet, James
Darling, trumpet, Genevieve Sidoti, piano.
[JD was my teacher, highly recommended]
Deutsche Gramaphon: D-115302--Copland, Appalachian Spring et al., Ray Mase, trumpet, Orpheus Chamber Orch.
EMI Classics: 5 67783 2--Richard Strauss and Paul Himdemith horn concerti, Dennis Brain, horn.
EMI Classics: 5 66950 2--Mozart, horn concerti, Dennis Brain, horn, Karajan, cond./Philharmonia Orch.
Naxos: 8.553531--The Art of Baroque Trumpet, Niklas Eklund, Baroque trumpet.
Phillips: 411052-2--R. Strauss, Vier Letzte Lieder, Jessye Norman, soprano
Summit Records: DCD 129--Tuba Tracks, Gene Pokorny, tuba, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Summit Records: DCD 141--OrchestraPro HORN - David Krehbiel, San Fransisco Symphony.
Summit Records: DCD 142--OrchestraPRO TUBA - Gene Pokorny, Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Summit Records: DCD 143--OrchestraPro TROMBONE - Ralph Sauer, Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Summit Records: DCD 144--OrchestraPRO TRUMPET - Phillip Smith, New York Philharmonic.
Summit Records: DCD 267--Portrait of an Artist, Arnold Jacobs, tuba.
Website
http://www.counterstreamradio.org/default.aspClassical contemporary music only, a must for aspiring composers.