This week’s trumpet inspiration is perhaps the most beautiful brass performance I’ve ever heard: Song for Hope by Peter Meechan. It features three of today’s great principal trumpet players: L to R David Bilger (Philadelphia), Michael Sachs (Cleveland), and Ryan Anthony (Dallas). The conductor is Phil Smith (retired principal trumpet, New York Philharmonic), and the accompanying musicians are members of the Dallas Symphony.
This was recorded live in 2015 at a concert for Cancer Blows — a charitable organization led by Ryan Anthony that organizes world-class trumpet concerts to raise money for cancer research.
Performances like this remind us of the most fundamental ways music can touch people, and they inspire us to be better musicians and better to one another.
Listening guide questions:
- Think of some adjectives to describe the sounds/tone qualities of each of the 3 soloists.
- How does this piece make you feel? What emotions and images do you think the composer is trying to evoke?
MPTrumpet 