Twenty-first century American music for trumpet and piano

American composers have contributed a significant volume of material to the modern solo trumpet repertoire since the middle of the last century. This recording project and accompanying paper seeks to add to that repertoire through the introduction and analysis of several recent works for trumpet and piano that were previously unrecorded or had not been recorded extensively. Each work was selected with the purpose of bringing greater visibility to extraordinary music. It is the author’s belief that these pieces are appropriate for advanced trumpet students and professionals and that they are worthy of further study and performance, possibly to the extent of becoming standard repertoire for the instrument. They are also pieces that will be of interest to trumpet and brass music enthusiasts and, hopefully, a wider musical audience.

This paper explores the composers, their work, and the place of these pieces in the modern classical trumpet repertoire, particularly the lineage of American art music for trumpet and piano. The music for this project was composed by Michael Djupstrom, Amy Dunker, Terry Everson, Stacy Garrop, Edward Hoffman, and Kevin McKee. Original research brings unique insight into the pieces recorded on the album, particularly through interviews conducted with each of the composers. A transcript of the interview with Edward Hoffman is available in an appendix.

The album of music, Twenty-First Century American Music for Trumpet and Piano, was recorded by Laura Saylor and Dr. Charles Kemper at Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota and features Jake Baldwin on trumpet and Myrtle Lemon-Todd, soprano. Audio engineering of the recording was completed by Jacob Carlson of Defhaus Studios in St. Paul, Minnesota.