for Trumpet and Piano Robert Paterson
Program Note
Many composers associate orchestral instruments with animals to great effect, such as Prokofiev with Peter and the Wolf, Rimsky-Korsakov with Flight of the Bumblebee, Saint-Saëns with Carnival of the Animals, and perhaps most obsessively, Messiaen with birds from all over the world. In Soar, I associate the trumpet with an eagle, a bird that can fly as high as ten thousand feet and as fast as two hundred miles per hour. Like an eagle soaring above mountains, Soar requires the trumpet player to play fast and high, and both the trumpet and piano parts are, at times, quite virtuosic. In this sense, Soar is really meant as a show-off piece for expert trumpet players. Soar was commissioned by Lexie Signor.
Instrumentation
C trumpet (Harmon and straight mutes needed) and piano
General Explanation of Notation
– short fermata
hard accent
Note Regarding Cuts for Competitions
For competitions, if the tempos are followed as written, the following measures may be omitted to reduce the duration of the piece:
• mm. 190-234 (will reduce to ca. 7:55)
• mm. 274-325 (will reduce to ca. 7:30)
These cuts should not be used for live performances or recordings.
World Premiere
Lexie Signor, trumpet; Geoffrey Burleson, piano
Mostly Modern Festival
Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall, Arthur Zankel Music Center Saratoga Springs, NY, USA June 2023
Duration: ca. 8’30"
Tempo I (q = ca. 144), flying at night under chimes of starlight
L’istesso tempo: floating above