Fountainhall at the Cross Church
Monday 13th November 2023
Aaron Akugbo Trumpet
Zeynep Özsuca Piano
PROGRAMME:
Arthur Honegger (1892 – 1955)
Intrada in B flat
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1962)
Metamorphoses: 1. The Offering 2. A Song 3. The Past
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934 – 2016)
Farewell to Stromness
Halsey Stevens (1908 – 1989)
Sonata for trumpet and piano
1. Allegro Moderato 2. Adagio Tenero 3. Allegro
INTERVAL
Marcel Bitsch (1921 – 2011)
Four Variations on a theme of Domenico Scarlatti
Richard Rogers (1902 – 1979) and Lorenz Hart (1895 – 1943)
My Funny Valentine
George Enescu (1881 – 1955)
Légende
Florence Price (1887 – 1953)
1. Sympathy 2. Morning (piano solo) 3. Adoration
Karl Pilss (1902 – 1979)
Sonata for trumpet and piano
1. Allegro appassionato 2. Adagio molto cantabile 3. Allegro
REVIEW:
This was the first concert for trumpet and piano that Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts has hosted. It went down exceptionally well with Monday’s large audience. Aaron Akugbo told us that so much music for trumpet tends to be loud and fanfare-like. He intended to introduce us to a far wider range of trumpet music, but this first piece Intrada in B flat by Arthur Honegger did have that fanfare-like style at the outset. That was fine because it got us all sitting up and taking notice. The piano began with strong chords before becoming fast moving. Yes, trumpet fanfares to start with, but this piece proved that the instrument could be quieter and more delicate too. Like all of the music in this programme, rich melody was important too. The balance between piano and trumpet was excellent. The piece concluded with a jaunty melody and with virtuosic ‘chattering’ notes on the trumpet.
Poulenc’s Metamorphoses was a set of three songs originally for voice and piano. Aaron promised that he would demonstrate that the trumpet could be every bit a singer too, and so he did. There was a smooth melodic amiability in the first song, The Offering. The second piece, A Song, was gentle and placid, then in The Past, the trumpet played with a touch of a swagger while the piano was nimble and exciting. Zeynep was just brilliant.
Peter Maxwell Davies’s Farewell to Stromness might be at heart simpler than some of the rest of the programme but today’s duo showed how simplicity can be made to shine magnificently when it is played so well. I think this piece made the audience particularly happy.
It was followed by the Sonata for trumpet and piano by the American composer Halsey Stevens. Aaron warned us that the harmonies were angular and difficult. Was this going to be one of those ultra modern pieces that some members of the audience might not like? Not a bit of it. This was an attractive composition throughout. The opening Allegro Moderato was something of a showpiece, lively and exciting but with melody at its heart, a touch of American musical theatre here, I thought. Both performers gave it their exciting best playing and we enjoyed it. The central slow movement Adagio Tenero reminded me of Aaron Copland’s famous trumpet piece Quiet City. This movement had a powerful atmospheric quality including a colourful muted section. I loved it. The final Allegro started with the piano in full flood before the trumpet took off with a joyful capering dance.
After the interval, rhythm and yes, melody too were at the heart of Four Variations on a theme of Domenico Scarlatti. It was composedby Marcel Bitsch, a Professor of Counterpoint at the Paris Conservatoire. These were thorough going showpieces. They had been used for competitions at the Conservatoire. There was exciting virtuoso playing from both trumpet and piano. At one point deliciously clear trumpet tone was what Bitsch was looking for, and Aaron supplied it to perfection.
He told us that at one point, when much younger, he had considered pursuing a jazz trumpet career but St Mary’s Music School had steered him towards classical music. However he still enjoys that other kind of music and so on Monday he chose to play a Rogers and Hart classic My Funny Valentine. Actually he played it quite straight with just a hint of blues here and there. In an amazing way, the duo twinned it with Enescu’s Légende. Since both pieces have strong melodic content, this worked remarkably well. I should say that they did not ‘jazz up’ Enescu’s music.
Florence Price was one of the first African American woman composers to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra. On 15th June 1933, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed a brand new piece by ‘an unknown composer’. It was praised to the heights by the critics, but at the time they were unaware that the composer was black.
Aaron and Zeynep had chosen three of her pieces arranging two of them for trumpet and piano while the central one was for piano alone. Sympathy was attractively melodic with, I thought, the merest hint of spiritual music? Morning for piano solo had delicious piano chords played slowly and feelingly. The final piece Adoration was thoroughly captivating.
Aaron told us that there was an empty space in the trumpet repertoire particularly from within the late romantic period. Rachmaninoff sadly had not composed a trumpet concerto. That empty space was filled by one of Aaron’s favorite works, the Sonata for trumpet and piano by Karl Pilss. The opening movement Allegro appassionato lived up splendidly to its title. The trumpet part sang out magnificently while on the piano Zeynep could well have been playing music by Rachmaninoff. It was gloriously rich and terrifyingly exciting. The second movement also lived up to its name, Adagio molto cantabile, especially that word cantabile on the trumpet. The finale was buoyant – jaunty and full of life. A splendid conclusion to a concert which was both entertaining but also with introductions to the music of several composers who were new to most of us. Isn’t it marvellous to discover that even after many years of listening there is still a whole world of music yet to be discovered!
ALAN COOPER