Winter: Music of Eric Ewazen and David Snow

Track Listings

1. Three Lyrics for Trumpet and Piano

2. Winter

3. Elegia

4. An Elizabethan Songbook

5. A Baker's Tale

6. Aftershock

7. A Hymn for the Lost and the Living

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Chris Gekker is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland. As a soloist he has been featured at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. For 18 years Chris was a member of the American Brass Quintet. He was principal trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and frequently performed and recorded as principal of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He writes: "Eric Ewazen, David Snow, and I all entered the Eastman School of Music as freshmen in 1972, and in fact David and I were roommates that first year. We all became friends quickly, and I frequently prepared and performed their music during those student years. In the more than 30 years since then, rarely has a year gone by that I have not been involved in their works, and in some years there have been many performances. When I joined the American Brass Quintet in 1981, it was with great pleasure that I introduced pieces by David and Eric to the group, works that immediately became standards on the Quintet’s recital programs and recordings. As far as our friendships have gone, well, some things do get better with age, and it is with a deep sense of gratitude that I look back upon all our years as colleagues. Both Eric and David write music that is important to me, music that I hear when I am away from my instrument, music that continues to challenge me to strive for improvement as a musician and trumpet player". David Snow holds degrees in music from Eastman and Yale University. He studied with Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, Samuel Adler, and Jacob Druckman. Eric Ewazen was born in 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at Eastman and Juilliard. He has been Vice-President of the League-ISCM, Composer-in-Residence with the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. Lecturer for the New York Philharmonic’s Musical Encounters Series, and he has been on the faculty of the Juilliard School since 1980.

Winter: Music of Eric Ewazen and David Snow, Music, Eric Ewazen, David Snow, Rita Sloan, Ted Guerrant, Milton Stevens, Christopher Gekker, Chamber, Chamber Music, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Keyboard, Miscellaneous, Miscellaneous Music, Music for Keyboard, Vocal, Vocal Music

Winter: Music of Eric Ewazen and David Snow
Average customer rating:

Ewazen is great; Snow's "Winter" is better

Great composers

Elegant Trumpet Music Elegantly Played

Winter: Music of Eric Ewazen and David Snow

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00029LN5A
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Tracks:

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

Album Description

Chris Gekker is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland. As a soloist he has been featured at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. For 18 years Chris was a member of the American Brass Quintet. He was principal trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke's and frequently performed and recorded as principal of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He writes: "Eric Ewazen, David Snow, and I all entered the Eastman School of Music as freshmen in 1972, and in fact David and I were roommates that first year. We all became friends quickly, and I frequently prepared and performed their music during those student years. In the more than 30 years since then, rarely has a year gone by that I have not been involved in their works, and in some years there have been many performances. When I joined the American Brass Quintet in 1981, it was with great pleasure that I introduced pieces by David and Eric to the group, works that immediately became standards on the Quintet's recital programs and recordings. As far as our friendships have gone, well, some things do get better with age, and it is with a deep sense of gratitude that I look back upon all our years as colleagues. Both Eric and David write music that is important to me, music that I hear when I am away from my instrument, music that continues to challenge me to strive for improvement as a musician and trumpet player". David Snow holds degrees in music from Eastman and Yale University. He studied with Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, Samuel Adler, and Jacob Druckman. Eric Ewazen was born in 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at Eastman and Juilliard. He has been Vice-President of the League-ISCM, Composer-in-Residence with the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. Lecturer for the New York Philharmonic's Musical Encounters Series, and he has been on the faculty of the Juilliard School since 1980.

Customer Reviews:

Ewazen is great; Snow's "Winter" is better.......2006-11-27

This is not your typical trumpet showcase album. The music is beautiful and moving. Eric Ewazen is a great composer because, among other things, he knows how to write melodies and set them to music. No forearms to the piano keyboard. No pyrotechnics. Everything starts with his melodies. Of course his craftsmanship is found in the wonderful ways he sets these musical ideas. He has four pieces on this CD, and I cannot pick a favorite. The duo with Milt Stephens on trombone is somewhat lighter music, but by no means inferior.

As much as I admire Ewazen's music here, Snow's "Winter" surpasses it. A more noble principal theme I have not heard. In three movements, the last two without interruption, it is a twenty-minute masterpiece. Episodic in character, it it the anti-sonata. This is music where form follows function. Despite the fact that the trumpet plays the eleven-bar theme only three times in roughly twenty minutes, the entire piece hangs on those three statements. Snow's craftsmanship consists in the success with which he sets and resets this theme. The result is hugely enjoyable. One cannot help but feel ennobled when listening to this music, a salutary benefit of good music if ever there was one. (Of course, one hesitates to say it in a day when cynicism and skepticism cast "ennoblement" in an unfavorable light. But I will say it anyway, because one of the things this CD does is make a case for "ennoblement" as something good, something that needs to be revived, and not merely a myth to be regularly exploded by "civilization" and "the arts." It does this, not in word, but in melody. The other extreme--the annihilation of "ennoblement"--is found in "rap music," which has no melody but instead vulgarity. End of pertinent tangent.)

Which brings us to Gekker's playing. The best trumpet players are first of all lyrical; everything else is secondary to an ability to play a melody without resorting to musical cliches or schmaltz. Gekker's playing is first and foremost lyrical. Indeed, with this CD he elevates the trumpet as a lyrical vehicle. His style highlights the music and not his own capabilities. He eschews flashy displays. His technical command is a means to an end and not an end in itself. There is a quality of understatement in his playing I find unique. He seems to always hold something in reserve, which I suppose all the great players do. It says everything about Gekker's playing that the music is paramount, the performer secondary. When in the history of brass music have people talked more about the music than the brass player?

Great composers.......2006-03-27

I loved most all the pieces. Two great American composers. Great trumpet performances. The music cathes a light jazz flavor with a classic Romatic feel. Mr. Snow and Mr. Ewazen keep up the good work. We're listening
Steve Ward

Elegant Trumpet Music Elegantly Played.......2004-06-30

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

Track Listings: