Three Etudes for Solo Trumpet

The composers have spoken. In a near unanimous decision, trumpet extended techniques have been deemed merely the tools of improvisers, too unruly for the printed page. When is the last time you’ve seen multiphonics, half-valve effects, and alternative fingerings for microtones notated in a score? Sure, all these sorts of things were rampant in the ’60s, but today nobody seems too interested in taming the entire spectra of sounds available on the instrument. A listen to Rex Richardson’s Three Etudes for Solo Trumpet might just fan the winds of change. Using all the afore mentioned techniques and more, Richardson creates a lyrical meditation highlighting some rarely heard timbres inside a composition that is focused more on melody than texture.

—RN