Brass quintet
SKU:
P2.60044
Composed by
Jim Self. Chamber music.
Published by Potenza
Music (P2.60044).
For many years
I have coached brass
quintets at the USC
Thornton School of Music.
One of the outstanding
young quintets was the
Valente Brass: Yurie
Yoshida, and Jessica
Cruz, Trumpets; Erika
Miras, Horn; Jonathan
Sie, Trombone; and Jake
Kraft, Bass Trombone.
They kept urging me to
write a quintet for them
and thus was born HoopLA.
This short (4:30 min) one
movement piece was
premiered by them at the
Live at Basset Hall 8
concert, April 13, 2014.
It was during this same
time that I was writing
two other works,
Intrepideedoodah and
Pocket Change. In all
three I used 6/4 meter as
the main rhythmic
structure. I call it my
6/4 period. That meter
translates easily into
12/8 and many other
groupings of 2s, 3s, 4,s
and 6s--the glories of
hemiola abound. A unison
intro leads to a Latin
set-up in the trumpets
and a tricky groove in
the trombones. The horn
has a haunting melody
over that. A middle waltz
section follows with
imitative solos in the
trumpets and a series of
duets between the all of
the players--giving the
impression of odd meters.
The main theme returns
with a rousing ending.
The brass quintet members
named the piece HoopLA
and, as the title
suggests, it's a lot of
fun in Los Angeles. -Jim
Self.
JAK
