Still and Quiet Places – Matthew Vangjel

Trumpet/Flugelhorn: Matthew Vangjel
Piano: Ellen Sommer
Marimba/Vibraphone: Joshua J. Knight

Two Images explores beauty of melody and tone on the flugelhorn in the first movement and then immediately takes a dramatic turn toward the more technical and virtuosic capabilities of the trumpet. Much like our thoughts, constantly shifting and changing character, this piece portrays the turbulent landscape of the mind.

Still and Quiet Places by Dr. David Biedenbender is an original piece commissioned specifically for this album. This piece is an attempt to find a still and quiet place within the mind. There is simplicity in the beautiful and expansive flugelhorn and piano lines that are made incredibly complex through their rhythmic relationship.

Arguably one of Mahler’s greatest works, Kindertotenlieder, is a set of five songs based on poetry by Friedrich Rückert. Mahler selected five poems (out of 450!) to set to music and displayed the inner turmoil, torment, helplessness, and almost hopeful resignation that follow the loss of a child.

Siete Canciones Populares Españolas is de Falla’s most well-known and recorded work for the simple reason that it is a masterpiece. The cycle deals with love and loss in a much lighter setting than Mahler, but it certainly captures the pure agony that can accompany romance.

Alex Noppe has masterfully crafted a version of Over the Rainbow that is at times familiar and simple, and then ethereal and incredibly imaginative; it blurs reality just enough to make the listener think again.

In addition to his current duties at LSU, Vangjel is an active performer locally and nationally. He is a member of the Mirari Brass Quintet with whom he maintains an active touring schedule. As an orchestral musician, Vangjel has performed with the Kansas City Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, and many others in Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas.