Opus number: op. 111
Title: Serenade No. 3
Instrumentation: Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, and Piano
Commissioned: Chris Gekker
Date written: 2010
Length: nine and a half minutes
Premiere Performance: November 18, 2012, Chris Gekker, trumpet, Chris Vadala, saxophone. Joseph & Alma Gildenhorn Recital Hall, University of Maryland School of Music.
Subsequent performances: Fall 2013, Berklee College of Music, David Friend Recital Hall
Program notes: The composition of this piece was suggested to me by friend, trumpeter Chris Gekker. Chris and I recorded Poems for Trumpet and Piano and Four Lyrics for Trumpet and Piano (Albany CD). Chris has most recently been working with saxophonist Chris Vadala and pianist Rita Sloan. His idea was for a piece with a reflective, elegiac, and yet jazzy tone, that would blend well with other pieces he was hoping to record.
Serenade no. 3 is a trio for trumpet in Bb, tenor saxophone, and piano. The movements are: Overture–with up tempo cross-accented phrase rhythms; Interlude–an arioso recitative with cadenza like arabesques in the solo winds supported by a harpsichord like accompaniment; Duet–a song without words much like the slow movement of a trio sonata; Chase–a propulsive four-voice fugue written in a jazzy swinging rhythm with a witty conclusion.
