YSU professor excels on trumpet

The orchestra played light classical and popular pieces.
BY ROBERT ROLLIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
On Saturday night, the Greenville Symphony presented its final Passavant Center Concert of the season, "The Glory of the Trumpet," with a potpourri program that mixed various accompanied trumpet solos with light classical and popular numbers. Soloist was Christopher Krummel, trumpet professor at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University.
Krummel, a University of Illinois graduate, has a facile technique best displayed in his performance of the "Allegro molto" from the Michael Haydn Trumpet Concerto No. 2. Five years younger than his brother Franz Joseph, Michael Haydn served as concertmaster and organist in Salzburg.
Krummel played piccolo trumpet for this piece, and had a surprisingly sweet tone. The short cadenza was outstanding. His encore on the same instrument was an equally deft rendition of the Rondeau of French baroque composer Jean-Joseph Mouret, used on public television as the theme for the famous "Masterpiece Theatre."
Krummel also played the "Allegro con spirito," from the Johann Nepomuk Hummel Trumpet Concerto and followed it with a Spanish piece, "The Bull Fighter's Song," which he performed with flair, no doubt because of his experience playing in Mexico.
'Magic Flute' overture
The concert opened with the Mozart Overture to "The Magic Flute," K. 620. Conductor Michael Gelfand remarked that the orchestra began each season program this year with a Mozart overture in honor of the composer's 250th birthday. The performance nicely delineated the contrast between slow and fast sections and had good dynamic variety.
The popular side was represented by two medley pieces on songs by Duke Ellington and Irving Berlin. Of the two, the more imaginatively scored was Irving Berlin's "A Symphonic Portrait," arranged by Hawley Ades.
This included "There's No Business Like Show Business," "God Bless America," "Say it with Music," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Easter Parade" and "White Christmas."
Ades kept things moving by including interesting counter melodies and good coloristic variety. His scoring was lightly doubled, often changing orchestral choirs among woodwinds, brass and strings. The Greenville performance was lively and colorful.
Not as successful
Duke Ellington's "A Medley for Orchestra" was less skillfully scored. The swing style songs, "Don't Get Around Much Any More," "Don't Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me," "Sophisticated Lady" and "It Don't Mean a Thing if You Ain't Got that Swing," were treated to a rather slick Hollywood-style arrangement that had an almost Las Vegas flavor. The exceptions were some nice interchanges between trumpets and trombones on "It Don't Mean a Thing," and colorful woodwind treatment in "Sophisticated Lady."
The Tchaikovsky Capriccio Italien, Op. 45, rounded out the light classical portion. The introductory trumpet call was well executed by Principal Thomas Jeffries and was followed by good woodwind and brass section playing.
With the exception of ensemble difficulties in the horns on the triplet accompaniment, the orchestra did well, especially in the closing tarantella.