Playfulness and wit

Jean-François Michel (*1957) enjoys a very good reputation in Switzerland as a brilliant trumpet player and as professor of trumpet at the University of Music (Lausanne, Fribourg, Sion). As a soloist, the former principal trumpeter of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra also performs on the international stage and offers master classes. An equally central and successful field of activity for Michel is composing chamber music pieces in various styles and levels of difficulty.

Lorie is a light, modal composition in three short movements with strong references to the stirring folk music of Ireland with Celtic roots. The first movement is a jig with a lively Dorian melody, which is partly accompanied by percussive elements (rhythms are to be struck on the wood of the piano and on the edge of the mouthpiece), reminiscent of the rhythmic tapping of the dancers' shoes in an Irish reel. The slow middle movement is characterized by a simple melody in a major key and, with its legato character, offers a contrast to the two outer movements. The final movement - like a fiddle tune - with dotted rhythms and a Mixolydian melody with shifts to major and minor, is also full of energy, joy of playing and wit.

The piece, which lasts around five minutes, would be very suitable as a competition piece for the intermediate level.

Jean-François Michel: Lorie, for Bb trumpet and piano, (=Swiss Composers Series), TP332, Fr. 20.00, Edition Bim, Vuarmarens 2011