Concerto for Trumpet, Strings and Percussion
Addison wrote this work while he was at the Royal College of Music for a fellow student, David Mason, who went on to become one of London’s top trumpet players and he performed it regularly. It was originally published by Joseph Williams, Ltd.
The first performance, at the Hampton Court Serenade Concert in July 1950, scored an immediate success which was repeated on numerous occasions. It was performed in London, Birmingham, York, Cardiff, Bromley, Scarborough, etc., and received 6 broadcasts within the space of twelve months. The Lemare Orchestra, conducted by Iris Lang and with William Lang on the trumpet, gave seven performances in Yorkshire, and other conductors include Sir Adrian Boult, Jenkins, Kathleen Merritt, Alec Sherman, Gilbert Vinter, Wilhem Tausky and George Weldon. It was also performed in New York in October 1953 and recorded by the Louisville Orchestra.
Press Notices:
“… this buoyant work, with its incisive themes, its piquant rhythms, its clear textures… The trumpet is rarely idle, and the scoring for both percussion and strings, shows many felicitous touches. There is room in the world for music of this kind.” - The Times
“And if it comes to bravura with Trumpet, what more can one ask the Addison’s Concerto, most brilliantly played by David Mason.” - Dyneley Hussey, The Listener
“A stirring and ably written work… The solo part is brilliant and the orchestral writing has a fire and energy that is quite fascinating.” - Musical Opinion
“JOHN ADDISON’S ATTRACTIVE CONCERTO… In his brilliant writing for the solo instrument he makes full use of its lyrical possibilities, enhancing this quality in his electric accomplished and individual harmony.” - Colin Mason, “The Chesterian”
The Concerto was recorded by the Louisville Orchestra First Edition Records. Leon Rapier, Trumpet. Jorge Mester, conductor.
Notes about the work, by Robert McMahan:
The name of John Addison is a familiar one to devotes of the British cinema; he is a prolific composer for film with a bright and enthusiastic style unmistakably his own. It is no wonder that in his adventures with music for the concert hall there is little trace of the angst that is so much part of the contemporary composer’s stock in trade.
Important trumpet concertos are rather a rarity after the eighteenth century, but if Addison aspired to importance in his, he did not aspire at the same time to pretentiousness. The opening leaps out briskly without an introduction. For a main idea we have one of those even, diatonic melodies that English writers usually term “a swinging tune.” The second subject is based on the same sort of material (perfect fourths abound throughout the Concerto) and a fugue follows shortly. At this juncture our composer makes an interesting alteration of the traditional format of reciputalation; the cadenza is made to flow naturally out of the first subject, functioning as a bridge to the second.
In the slow movement the featured interval becomes the perfect fifth. First presented on the muted trumpet, this interval outlines a quiet fanfare, lending a picturesque air to the score. As this dream-like fantasy unfolds the listener may be surprised at the expressive power that Addison is able to extract from the medium. Dissonant and intense, the strings mount steadily towards a polytonal clash at the high point. The solo moves suddenly to a reprise of the beginning and a danger of seeming and anti-climax, but Addison cleverly fuses the characteristic intervals of the first (fourths and fifths) two movements into a new, summary idea. A great deal of syncopation adds to the impression of urban bustle, while slower interludes dissipate little of the momentum. But the best is saved for last - a ravishing passage for the strings in which the contrasting material in four independent parts accelerates to the original tempo. A rousing finish!
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