Thom Ritter George

QUINTET NO. 1 For Brass Instruments, CN 218 (1965, Revised 1978)
 

PROGRAM NOTES

Thom Ritter George's BRASS QUINTET NO. 1 was composed in the summer of 1965. The composer revised the work in 1978, and it is in this form that the music is best known today. The score was created for the Eastman Brass Quintet's 1965 South American tour and is one of the composer's most widely played works. QUINTET NO. 1 is in five brief movements and employs musical ideas which are simple and clear.

The opening Allegretto is a short march in three-part song form. The same form is used in the following Allegro molto which has the character of a scherzo. Here the horn and second trumpet play a quiet musical dialogue in the "A" sections surrounding the more brilliant rhythmic drive of the "B" section. The movement ends quietly.

The third movement, Adagio ma non troppo, is not only at the physical center of the QUINTET, but it the expressive center of the piece also. This aria tests the sustaining powers of the brasses. The horn and tuba are featured in important solos.

A fiery ritornello opens the fourth movement, Molto vivace e con fuoco, breaking the contemplative mood of the preceding move-ment. Each instrument has a short cadenza of its own with the exception of the trumpets which play a duo-cadenza. After each cadenza, the ritornello is played. The movement leads without pause to the finale.

Like the opening movement, the last movement has the qualities of a march, but no actual themes are quoted from the beginning movement. The development section does quote thematic material from the second movement, thereby unifying the QUINTET as a whole.
 

(TRGcm:1993.01.05)