"In the Big City" represents hundreds of hours of working with, competing with and talking to some of the best musicians on the planet. I have always wanted to record a unique CD. "Triangles" and "Still Water" were obvious choices, I commissioned them. The Holdheim Sonata is something I've wanted to record for a long time. "N.O. Rising" and "The Moffett-Klein Phenomenon" were two of the best new pieces I've heard, had to have them. Voila, my CD!
My friends and students know about a trumpet lesson I had with the great French soloist Guy Touvron. I was playing "Intrada" by Arthur Honegger for him, and his reaction was "What is your cinéma?" That was the day I began to look at music differently, a truly life changing experience. I have a very clear cinéma for the second movement of the Holdheim. It involves a young girl on a kibbutz near the Syrian or Lebanese border with Israel. It is a beautiful night, the moon is resplendent and there is a light breeze blowing. She doesn't have a care in the world, she is just happy to be a child. Unfortunately, there are terrorists who believe that Israel shouldn't be there, so Israelis must constantly be on guard to defend themselves. This is one of those nights. A kibbutz soldier comes over to talk to the child, maybe a premonition to keep her safe, but one begins to feel tension, like something bad is going to happen. Then the inevitable, a rocket is fired at the kibbutz from across the border. Fortunately, the rocket isn't extremely accurate, and it flies over the kibbutz, landing harmlessly in a wadi several hundred meters away. And, just like that, disaster averted, the resiliency of a child shows through, the music relaxes and the she returns to her carefree existence without worry of terrorists. That "cinéma" is why I made this CD. I am also happy to include the trumpet ensembles and Kim's and Rychard's pieces.
I truly appreciate my tenure as Solo Trumpet of the Israel Philharmonic. The phrase "I'm going up to Jerusalem tonight" was always awe inspiring, and most of the orchestra tours were incredible. Now we are home in Los Angeles, one of the biggest cities in the world, and get to contribute to it's musical life. I'm fortunate to have had these rich experiences playing the trumpet.
An individual thank you is in order for each person who helped me with this project. Thank you Scott Dunn, Bryan Pezzone, Jim Miller, Jon Lewis, Rob Roy McGregor, Chris Still, David Washburn, Mike Zonshine, Jeff Jarvis and Johannes Müller-Stosch. Ken Kugler, thank you for everything, you're an amazing musician and a great friend. And of course Marty Fenton Frear, my wonderful wife, who did everything necessary to get this project done.
Also thank you to Arthur Farr, Irving Bush, Thomas Stevens, Boyde Hood, Rob Roy McGregor, Anthony Plog, Raphi Glaser, Ilan Eshed, Guy Touvron and Pierre Thibaud for making me into the trumpet player, musician and person I am today.
Rob Frear is a Yamaha & GR Mouthpiece Artist and plays trumpets designed by Bob Malone and mouthpieces by Gary Radtke on this recording. They are a Yamaha "Chicago" Artist Model C trumpet with a GR 67C** mouthpiece and a Yamaha "Vizzutti" Artist Model Bb trumpet with a GR 67C* mouthpiece.
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