Trumpet Concerto: the Review is in - and glowing to say the least

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Being compared to Aaron Copland makes this composer feel pretty good!

Robert McNeil wrote a review of a recent concert at the Lamont School of Music in his blog OpusColorado. The Lamont Symphony Orchestra featured a variety of new works by composers at the school, including one by yours truly --Trumpet Concerto 3rd movement.

"This is truly a fine composition. This is another work where I would like to examine the score, because it seemed to me that intentionally or unintentionally, Mr. Michael made use of what theory students have learned to tag as “white key diatonicism.” This is the style of composition personified by the American composer Aaron Copland, and as I have said before in very oversimplified terms, white key diatonicism is where key signatures and enharmonic equivalence are taken as points of departure for a study of the diatonic-chromatic relationship. In other words, key relationships do not follow established rules of traditional harmony. But I must tell you that as I listened to this composition, I was totally astonished not just by the work itself, but by the amazing trumpet performance by Traci Nelson."

It was a good night and a good concert. Traci did very well with the difficult music I gave her, as did the Lamont Symphony Orchestra. I was pleased with the night and obviously so was Robert McNeil.

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