Arne Running has
written the following about this quintet: "Like many
others who came of age in the 1960s, I could not escape
the compelling
influence of rock and roll music. On the other hand,
my formative years
were also influenced by weekly attendance with my family
at the local
Lutheran church. Opus
5 for Brass 5 reflects both of these
influences.
The piece begins
with a slow, mysterious, chant-like introduction - reminiscent of the many chorales and hymns I heard as
a boy in church.
With the entrance of the lyric melody in the solo trumpet,
however, the
mood, while still 'serious,' begins to shift: the
harmonic progression
underneath the trumpet line is none other than the well-known
"rock and
roll" progression heard in nearly every rock tune of
the 1950s.
The slow introduction
is followed by a boisterous and rollicking Allegro
con brio in which the rock and roll harmonic progression
is a dominant
force. The music here is in fun-loving contrast to the
seriousness of the
introduction.
