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The Boston Globe
MUSIC REVIEW
By Richard Buell, Globe Correspondent, 12/2/2003Jackson takes Pro Arte on a sizzling, spirited adventure
The Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston
Isaiah Jackson conducting at: Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Sunday
CAMBRIDGE -- Paul Hindemith's "Kammermusik No. 1 with Finale 1921," which opened Sunday afternoon's concert . . . is full of extreme, transgressive moments.
The more's the wonder that the next piece, James M. Stephenson III's Concerto for Trumpet, a premiere, didn't get lost in all the dust that had been kicked up. One's worst fears were over in a trice.
Rather than a showpiece-and-that's-all, Stephenson has given us a pair of big, skillfully composed movements that cover a wide stylistic and emotional range; they are almost deceitful in the way they give the virtuoso soloist so much to do without pushing that fact at us -- even in the cadenza, which is where people usually start looking at their watches. The pastoral, the evocations of big-city bustle, a majestic full-orchestra climax (trumpet-led, of course) -- they were all here, seamlessly arranged and with nary a cliche in sight.
As Bostonians know, Jeffrey Work is a marvelous trumpet player, with a rounded, unforced, and musical sound, even at highest volume. Stephenson (Work's high school friend) is a lucky composer. In every respect, this premiere performance seemed all it should have been.
The Boston Herald
By T.J. Medrek, Tuesday, December 2, 2003
Vibrant program brings out classical's Arte and soul
When a new work is performed, it naturally receives pride of place in any review. Stephenson's concerto deserves to be heard again and again.
More about musical line than complexity for its own sake, the two-movement, roughly 22-minute concerto is filled with straightforward, unashamedly beautiful sounds intriguingly arranged by the 30-something composer. Stephenson's former New England Conservatory classmate, trumpeter Jeffrey Work, made playing the demanding solo part seem like, well, no work at all. When rapid-fire virtuosity was required, Work delivered. When Stephenson, himself a trumpeter who plays with Florida's Naples Philharmonic, asked for a lyricism that doesn't always come naturally to the instrument, Work complied with luxurious tone.
The Bay State Banner
Caldwell Titcomb
Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, conducted by Isaiah Jackson, at Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, Sunday.
Pro Arte Premieres Trumpet Concerto
There are few trumpet concertos that can be considered repertory staples -- one thinks of those by Haydn and Hummel (Mozart wrote one, which is lost). So it was a significant event when the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, under its black music director Isaiah Jackson, presented the world premiere of a new trumpet concerto at its November 30 concert in Sanders Theatre.
The composer is James M. Stephenson III (b. 1969), who received his degree in trumpet at the New England Conservatory in 1990. Since then he has been assistant principal trumpeter with the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, while also doing considerable composing and arranging.
The soloist was Jeffrey Work, who in 1995 became the only trumpeter ever to earn the Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory, and is a regular member of the Pro Arte.
The two men have been good friends since they were youngsters, so the composer wrote the concerto specifically for his old pal, who started playing the trumpet at the age of nine.
The 23-minute piece, in two movements, is a splendid addition to the repertory and it got a knockout performance from the soloist and the orchestra. The slow opening, with its muted violins, is rather Impressionistic, and later moves into more assertive writing. The second movement is fast, and requires the soloist to demonstrate extraordinary technical virtuosity throughout, including a lengthy unaccompanied cadenza. It's no wonder that Work commented after the concert that the piece is physically tiring to play; but he was up to its every demand, and one hopes it will enjoy a healthy life hereafter.
