My Lord, What a Mourning! – trumpet and piano

My Lord, What a Mourning! (1990) Sonata for trumpet and piano – 13’45”.  The work is in three movements.  “Death Be Not Proud” is an elegy that begins with powerful statements of grief, but the middle sections declare praise for the departed.  “Sevenfold Wake” employs septuple meter, blues elements and a variety of mutes to convey the idea of a somewhat drunken party honoring the dead.  “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” is part of an Irish blessing: “May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you’re dead.”  The movement is a grand chase making frequent use of the tritone interval (“the devil in music”).

Difficult

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To listen to an excerpt from the second movement, Sevenfold Wake, click here.