What happens when 7 trumpet players are tasked to fill a CD with music written exclusively for their instruments?  If those 7 trumpeters happen to be the virtuosi of Tromba Mundi, the result is a resounding success on all counts.   Their self-titled 1st release is a must for trumpet players, brass enthusiasts, and casual listeners alike.

The principal reason for their success is the simple yet monumental achievement of bringing to light that there are indeed many high quality and varied pieces written for trumpet ensemble.  With brass chamber music largely dominated by quintets, quartets, and recently even tuba-euphonium ensembles and trombone choirs, the idea of getting several of the highest, smallest, and arguably brightest and loudest brass instruments together to make music is a relatively recent, though most welcome, development.  What’s more, to expect this group of identical instruments to play with a full palate of nuanced tone colors while balancing and blending to form a unified sound otherwise associated with string quartets is a tall order indeed.  Tromba Mundi delivers.

The choice of repertoire and the organization of the CD’s tracks also deserve praise.  The danger of purchasing a recording bursting with over 70 minutes of music for multiple trumpets should be obvious, but the buyer need not beware – the music encompasses many different moods, styles, and decibel levels.   Tromba Mundi was also careful to include a balanced mix of trumpet ensemble standards like the Eric Ewazen Fantasia, up-and-coming compositions like Jerôme Naulais’ triptych Cocktail (which opens the CD), and a more than fair amount of commissioned works and world première recordings.  For a young ensemble performing a genre of music still in a relatively nascent form, world premières may be unavoidable – but Tromba Mundi embraces its mission as ambassador not only for the trumpet ensemble in general, but as champion of the fresh voices and sounds which will become the standard repertoire of the future.  In fact, 6 of the 11 works on the CD are being heard for the first time, and the composers’ reactions, included in the liner notes, express unanimous praise for the ensemble, often mentioning that the recordings contained on this disc are the definitive recordings against which others will be measured.

The music flows surprisingly well, considering that while all seven horns are not used on every track, the instrumentation remains similar across 23 tracks by 11 different composers.  Most composers, while writing a short, 1-movement work for trumpets, will tend toward some type of fanfare or jazzy scherzo, so Tromba Mundi juxtaposes short works with longer multi-movement pieces, like Naulais’ Cocktail (3), and Adrés’ Triforium (5), which often contain slower, more calm music in the inner movements.  Some of the single movement works stand out by not being a traditional brass explosion, like Zuckerman’s haunting Recollections, where layered, muted canonical entrances give the feeling of persistent memories, or Bradshaw’s Carillon, intended to imitate resounding and echoing church bells.

That said, there are plenty of ear-awakening blasts and stratospheric finger work to go around.  Even here, the ensemble is careful to balance the jazzy tooting of the finale to Cocktail with traditional declamatory statements like Price’s Intrada Drammatica, and moto perpetuo movements like the finale of Morales’ Cityscapes, which closes the CD.  It is admirable and important to note also that Tromba Mundi included Lo Presti’s Suite for Five Trumpets, originally written for high school players; the high quality but accessibility of this work will hopefully inspire young trumpeters listening to the CD to get involved in the repertoire as they develop, further helping the mission of spreading knowledge and appreciation of trumpet ensemble music.

© 2009 Patrick Valentino