Duration: 5 ’45”
First two score pages (pdf)
Excerpt 1 Excerpt 2 Excerpt 3 Excerpt 4
Compressionism was premiered at the 2012 International Trumpet Guild Conference at Columbus State University in Georgia. It was commissioned by Eric Swisher, coordinator of the conference’s Festival of Trumpets concert for inclusion on that program.
The piece takes its name from the four-voice progression that begins the piece and is one of its main ideas, repeated and manipulated throughout. The top two voices in the progression move down chromatically while the bottom two move up, contracting the space they all occupy – see the boxed passage below.
When the piece later reaches Rehearsal B, it is simply a fast variation of the opening idea. The quicker tempo and the repetition of the repeated notes reinforce the effect of compression, squeezing the piece forward into the next section.
Score and parts available for sale at Triplo
Press.