In keeping with the theme of “Beloved Favorites and Exciting Discoveries,” the Gorge Sinfonietta presents its first concert of the season called “Sound the Trumpet.”
The title of the concert comes from one of the program’s selections, the Trumpet Concerto by Alexander Arutunian. Written in the early 1950s, Arutunian’s concerto is very popular with trumpet players. It’s dramatic, expressive and rhythmic. Of course, it’s a showpiece for the soloist, too. In this case, the featured artist is Anders Foster, who teaches music at Wy’east. “Foster’s brilliant trumpet playing matches perfectly with the demands of the concerto,” said conductor Mark Steighner. “There are relatively few concertos for the trumpet, and the Arutunian is one of the best.”
Steighner said that the biggest piece on the program is one that audiences probably won’t know. “We’re playing the Gaelic Symphony by American female composer Amy Beach. It’s immense, technically challenging and extremely impressive.”
Amy Beach, who was born in the 1860s and died in 1944, was the best and most accomplished female composer in the early 20th century. Steighner said, “Amy Beach is best known for her songs and piano music, but she wrote three or four really big works, too. The biggest is the symphony.” The symphony is loosely based on folk songs from Ireland and was premiered when the composer was only 25. It was the first symphony by an American female composer to be professionally performed.
“Sadly, concert audiences mostly hear music by white, European or American men,” Steighner said. “The music of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms is obviously great, but there’s a lot more to the story. Women have been composers as far back as Hildegard von Bingen, back in the Middle Ages.”
Rounding out the program is one of those “beloved favorites,” the tone poem Finlandia by Jean Sibelius. Steighner said that over the past 20 years, the Sinfonietta has played the work once before. “Like in so much of his music, Sibelius is able to capture the drama and beauty of nature and his homeland of Finland.”
