Brass listening from class 2/17
Style of Brass Quintet Pieces Alyabiev As we discussed, this is the first brass quintet we have access to, and being written during the romantic period, the traits of that style of writing come through very clearly. The beginning opens with a slow adagio, very diatonic harmonies, and slow melodic gestures that eventually lead us to a triumphant, very brass tempo change, with more virtuosic ideas. The full potential of valved instruments are used here, with many runs in the soprano voices. We eventually leave our home key of Eb major, and go on an exploratory tonal shift into a development section. This lands us in B flat major, which quickly cadences back into our home key of Eb major. Eventually we fade out in the same Eb minor that the piece started with. Overall the style of this piece is very romantic, akin to the period it was written in, and despite this age, it still reads and sounds like a more modern classical piece for brass quintet. Poulenc This piece ...