Joel Puckett: Short Stories in London Sean Jones, Nicholas Phan, London Symphony Orchestra & Joseph Young

• Joel Puckett (b. 1977): There Was a Child Went Forth:
• 1 Puckett: There Was a Child Went Forth: I. There was a child 03:35
• 2 Puckett: There Was a Child Went Forth: II. The early lilacs 04:39
• 3 Puckett: There Was a Child Went Forth: III. And his parents 07:00
• 4 Puckett: There Was a Child Went Forth: IV. The village on the highland 04:23
• Trumpet Concerto:
• 5 Puckett: Trumpet Concerto: I. Slow and expressively 04:27
• 6 Puckett: Trumpet Concerto: II. Simple, like remembering an old song 05:57
• 7 Puckett: Trumpet Concerto: III. Cadenzas 02:20
• 8 Puckett: Trumpet Concerto: IV. Finale, with an air of mystery 04:51
• Short Stories: Part I:
• 9 Puckett: Short Stories: Part I: I. Somewhere near the end 01:26
• 10 Puckett: Short Stories: Part I: II. Introit 02:19
• 11 Puckett: Short Stories: Part I: III. The Priests 04:35
• Short Stories: Part II:
• 12 Puckett: Short Stories: Part II: IV. Recitative 03:15
• 13 Puckett: Short Stories: Part II: V. Mother and child 05:34
• Short Stories: Part III:
• 14 Puckett: Short Stories: Part III: VI. Sonno agitato 01:46
• 15 Puckett: Short Stories: Part III: VII. The Bridge (cadenza) 01:03
• 16 Puckett: Short Stories: Part III: VIII. Ma Fin 02:52
• Total Runtime 01:00:02

Info for Joel Puckett: Short Stories in London

Creative collaboration is central to American composer Joel Puckett’s career, a spirit that unites the three works on this recording. Each work represents a partnership between Puckett’s vibrant creative imagination and a particular musician, or group of musicians.

Puckett’s new Trumpet Concerto (2024), his second for the instrument, was written for the distinguished jazz trumpeter Sean Jones. It’s a homage of sorts to another American classic conceived for a great jazz musician, Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, which was commissioned and premiered by Benny Goodman. The work is a personal response to Jones’s artistry, showcasing his dazzling high register and individual articulations and inflections that are unique to his playing.

The orchestral song cycle There Was a Child Went Forth was created for Grammy Award winning tenor Nicholas Phan. The music is accessible and inward, much like the verses by Walt Whitman. It’s a work of celebration, composed in 2023 for the 225th anniversary of the United States President’s Own Marine Band. Inspiration came from Phan’s love of Whitman, and synergy from Whitman’s written reviews of the Marine Band.’

The album’s title track Short Stories is a string quartet concerto, which has been widely performed since its 2013 premiere. Principal players of the London Symphony Orchestra shine as the soloists, at times playing as individuals, at others as a unit with their orchestral colleagues providing a resplendent accompaniment.

“He [Phan] confidently negotiates the elegant, if often challenging, melodic lines, using his flair for producing exquisite pianissimi to particularly haunting effect…. Enhancing the performance is the glowing sound that Young coaxes from the LSO… Puckett’s Trumpet Concerto … written for jazz artist Sean Jones, pulls you in right at the start, with a soft haze from a string orchestra setting up the soloist’s subdued entrance… Jones handles the solo part with aplomb, his tone remaining pure and clear right on through stratospheric reaches… In our increasingly scary world, an album filled with music of such sincerity, personality and poetic impulse couldn’t be more welcome.” (Tim Smith, By Tim Smith.com)

Nicholas Phan, tenor
Sean Jones, trumpet
Benjamin Marquise Gilmore, violin I
Julián Gil Rodríguez, violin II
Gillianne Haddow, viola
David Cohen, cello
London Symphony Orchestra
Joseph Young, conductor

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