Needless to say, Pinkham is a tonal composer, but one who, on the evidence of this release, is not adverse to pushing the envelope. His language can be characterized as neo-Classical in the best Stravinskian sense—compact, honed, free of gratuitous gestures, and above all, unerringly to the point. Like Hindemith, or Haydn for that matter, Pinkham can take a terse and-not-too-promising melodic kernel and, through his exploitation of its implied harmonic content and his contrapuntal skill, create music that is far more than the sum of its well-wrought parts. His writing for the organ as well as that for the brass, either as solo instruments or in ensemble, is relentlessly on the mark.

A good deal of the music on this release fits under the rubric of occasional music, but like the best of occasional music, I suspect that it will long outlive its occasions. The first two of the three Inaugural Marches for Brass Quintet were composed for the installation of Laurence Lesser as president of the New England Conservatory in 1983, the third was for the 1985 installation of Margaret A. McKenna as president of Leslie College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In their overall idiom, their surgical precision of utterance, and their balance of mandated solemnity with quirky wit, they are homage to Stravinsky. Psalms for Trumpet and Organ was composed for the 1984 inauguration of the organ at First United Church of Oak Park, Illinois. This is a haunting piece that utilizes the trumpet more for its sustained lyrical qualities than its fanfare prowess, though that comes to the fore in the final section inspired by Psalm 47:5, “The Lord has gone up with a trumpet fanfare.” The Salutation of Gabriel for horn and organ (2000) was composed in fulfillment of a commission by Joan Lippencott for the retirement of Karen McFarlane from her organists management business. The extra-musical program is that of the Annunciation, and Pinkham realizes his theme by the most resourcefully minimalist of means—catapulting a simple horn fanfare into a seven-minute and fully satisfying musical narrative.

I won’t get into Solemnities for trombone and organ (2000), or Dragons and Deeps for bass tuba in F and organ (2001) here, but will leave those pieces for your later discovery. The major two offerings on this release are the Brass Quintet (1983), and Morning Music (1995). In the liner notes, Pinkham pays heed to the brass quintet’s need for repertoire. His solution was to create a 20-minute piece for that ensemble. The limitations of the medium, however, have to do with how long brass-players can play before dropping from coronary arrest. Pinkham’s practical solution was to divide the ensemble into varying duos and trios so that various personnel can rest. In the Brass Quintet, he has created a tour de force. Morning Music was composed for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Paul Hindemith. In this piece, Pinkham becomes a Hindemith clone (no simple feat!), and duplicates the master’s language with uncanny accuracy, creating a real example of Gebrauchtsmusik. Hindemith believed that music ought to relate to real life, that music ought to serve a social function by communicating directly and unequivocally. Given the evidence here, so does Daniel Pinkham.

As to the performances, they are as Mozart and Leutgeb, or Brahms and Mühlfeld.

William Zagorski, FANFARE