Sunday, April 20, 2014

NTC 2014 videos are sneaking on to Youtube - Afternoon of a Faun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbUuIj2tSK4 - Oklahomo State at NTC 2014 - Afternoon of a Faun - Debussy

I am shocked by this arrangement. The blend between the top three trumpet players (even when one is on piccolo) is so tight that the overtones are distorting the recording a little bit. The low-end sound of each of these performers is gorgeous and full and the piece itself shares the load well between the performers while opening up lots of opportunities for them to show off their matching timbres. If the video wasn't panning between them as they traded melody lines I would have a hard time believing that there was not a single solo voice with accompaniment.

That said, Debussy is such a complex tapestry of not just harmonies but colors that I'm surprised that Oklahoma State went with five trumpets with one switching to piccolo and didn't incorporate any mutes or flugelhorn. I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering why they chose not to go one level deeper in their treatment of Debussy.

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