CPMusicLibrary's video: Songs of the Paradise Saloon by Bramwell Tovey-Trumpet Concerto

Programme Notes by the composer Songs of the Paradise Saloon – a trumpet concerto The Paradise Saloon was a bar in 19 century New York that figures in my opera The Inventor, commissioned the by Calgary Opera, premiered in January 2011 with a libretto by John Murrell. The opera is based upon real historical events in the life of Alexander (Sandy) Keith junior, a nephew of the eponymous Halifax brewer. Keith’s character defies quick analysis. He was a sociopath but loving father, an adored husband yet a notorious criminal whose deeds included murder and fraud. His final crime was to blow up an ocean-going liner, killing almost 100 passengers and maiming many more, on December 11, 1875 at Bremerhaven port, Germany. In Act I, Keith is on the run and has arrived at the Paradise Saloon in Manhattan. He’s with Mary Clifton, a chambermaid he met in Halifax who is pregnant by him. He is about to abandon her and she is about to have twins. In the opera, the bar scene is short but includes many characters whose company I came to enjoy – A Man Who Scratches And Smells and A Woman With A Feathery Fan were my favorites. Songs of the Paradise Saloon is based upon musical material from this scene and other material in Act 1. Like any pub, when you look around you see the world. Naturally, there’s a seen-it-all-before barman, a woman writing a letter, a Scot wanders in, children wait for hours outside, a couple who are deeply in love, Confederate spies, Union soldiers, and lots of loose life with Bacchanalian intentions. The deepest and the most superficial conversations happen simultaneously. Sandy Keith is there and sees everything. He uses and abuses at whim but is always engineering to his own advantage. Listeners might imagine their own scenario. The work is based upon a brief motif heard at the outset on violas and cellos, again in the central slow section and finally in a blaze of colour at the climax of the work. Its character is ambivalent; aspirational yet despairing, passionate but desolate. The trumpet soloist (who also plays flugel horn, cornet and piccolo trumpet) never plays the theme, but manipulates it throughout. Fragments of the theme (as if it’s been shattered) are used in the 12 variations that follow. The music is laced with post-minimalism, jazz and polytonal elements. Variations 10 and 11 include an optional cut which omits the piccolo trumpet variation in Variation 11. Duration: 25 minutes Scored for:solo trumpet (=flugelhorn, cornet, piccolo trumpet) and Orchestra Version: 3.2(2nd=ca).2(2nd=bcl).2./4.3.3.1./tp.3 perc.hp.pno(=cel)./sts Brass Band Version 1 sop cnt.4 solo cnt.1 rip cnt.2 2nd cnt.2 3rd cnt.1 Solo trumpet + flghn.1 solo hn.1-1st hn. 1-2nd hn.2 bar.2 tmb.btmb.3 euph.2 Eb tba.2 Bb tba.timp.3 perc. The brass band version has been recorded with the Hannaford Street Silver Band on their Journey in Brass CD, with Andrew McCandless, solo and Bramwell Tovey, conductor. Perusal scores are available upon request from the publisher Counterpoint Music Library Services www.cpmusiclibraryservices.ca Full score and Trumpet solo available for sale through our website or order through your local retailer.