Music Reviews
“Tenebrae (Latin for “shadows”), was originally conceived for English horn and string quartet, but is heard here in an arrangement for trumpet and organ. Its instrumentation, serenely flowing lines, and modal flavor somehow suggest eternity to my ears, but in any case, it is a sublimely beautiful work.”
David DeBoor Canfield Fanfare
“Sonata Forty I find to be one of the most eloquent and moving musical statements I’ve heard yet from Sampson’s pen (or computer, as the case may be). The immaculate performance of the work by its dedicatee Scott Brubaker and pianist Ron Levy further convinces me that this is one of my very favorite contemporary horn sonatas.”
David DeBoor Canfield Fanfare
“Talk about impressive pedigrees: New Jersey-based composer David Sampson can look back on studies with Karel Husa, Henri Dutilleux, and John Corigliano. The head spins at the possible permutations and combinations of the expressive languages and techniques of those three. And truth be known, listening to the 66-year-old composer’s chamber music can have that very effect on the listener, as the influence of these three has been subsumed into the unusually potent, colorful, and expressive voice of this now highly regarded, award-winning musician.”
Ronald E. Grames Fanfare
“In Memoriam reflects a personal tragedy, but it stands on its own as an example of how a piece can integrate the modern and the traditional. Sampson succeeds in giving a contemporary musical expression to the emotions of loss and grief. Moreover, he has written one of the most genuinely beautiful pieces of serious modern music in recent years.”
Marc Haefele Daily Record
“Music director and conductor Yehuda Gilad chose to open, however with a much more somber piece, Lament, by resident composer and Colonial Symphony trumpeter David Sampson. Originally the second movement of the Dectet of 1998, Lament was set apart by Sampson and orchestrated in honor of his friends, the conductor and clarinetist Alan Balter and his wife Niki who both died that year. The piece is a winner that deserves more hearing. A passacaglia with the gentle bass line plucked and bowed by the cellos and basses, the work denotes a calm spiritual longing with harmonies reminiscent of the works of hair-shirted Estonian minimalist Arvo Pärt, even though Sampson, a tonalist, is no minimalist and is not at all dour. The violins sit out the first few minutes of the piece which helped make their entry with a rich soaring line simply breathtaking. Beautiful playing throughout by the orchestra presented the piece in the best possible light. Congratulations, Mr. Sampson. ”
James Lent Recorder Community News
“Impressions of the music of David Sampson previously have been uniformly positive, and this disc confirms Sampson’s status as a major composer of today.”
Colin Clarke Fanfare
“Morning Music shows that Mr. Sampson has put his loss in perspective: the piece closes with a burst of bright, hopeful energy. But the emotional path he describes in the rest of the work suggests the complexity of the journey.”
Allan Kozinn New York Times
“Sampson writes most fluidly and convincingly in a number of disparate styles, a trait that I admire, and I can give only the highest praise to his music and the realization of it contained on this disc.”
David DeBoor Canfield Fanfare
“There is no question after its Friday world premier that David Sampson’s Three Portraits is one of the most serious and difficult works written for solo tuba. It eschews the stereotypical usages: No oompah, no “humor-in-music” clichés. It is instead a thoroughly modern work with harmonies and rhythms that run the gamut from sweet to harsh. But because the music is always composed from the heart, it achieves an emotional impact which touches the listener.”
Paul Somers Newark Star-Ledger
“The third piece was the show’s best. Morning Music was composed by David Sampson after his brother was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. The piece is an emotional roller coaster as the composer tries to comprehend what has happened to his brother and his family. The American Brass Quintet was able to find those emotions and bring them out clearly in this lengthy, complex piece. ”
Ed Huyck Daily Press
“David Sampson’s Turns for Violoncello and Orchestra is a bravura star-vehicle that deserves a place with the Cello Concertos of Saint-Saens, Lalo, Barber, Dvorak and Elgar.”
Peter Spencer Newark Star-Ledger
“In one movement, about ten minutes in duration, Simple Lives says what it has to say plainly but eloquently, without wearing out its welcome. This is music of plain speech, where yes is yes and no is no. Not one measure of this score is padding. Simple lives is moving without being gushy. It is contemporary without banging on a can.”
Michael Redmond Newark Star-Ledger
“One work, In Memoriam: Nightmare Begins Reality, by David Sampson, proved to be very substantial with cries of anger and pain alternating with slow, elegiac passages. A final song of mourning on the horn, fading into silence, had a particular beautiful effect.”
Joseph McLellan The Washington Post
“Less frivolous and more ambitious is David Sampson’s Dectet, which received its premiere as the second of two works commissioned by CCM for this season’s Millennium series. Sampson is a new name to me and I would like to hear more of his music. There are four contrasting movements, lasting about 30 minutes. Sampson makes each of the 10 winds, strings and piano a soloist when he isn’t shrewdly playing groups of instruments off one another or combining them in surprising, colorful ways. His accessible work includes a three-quarter time scherzo that echoes Shostakovich, while the propulsive rhythms of the finale makes for an exhilarating close. Dectet is a terrific piece and it got a terrific reading.”
John von Rhein Chicago Tribune
“David Sampson is one of the most admired and prolific contemporary composers. He has composed many dramatic and touching works for solo and chamber brass. Notes from Faraway Places is a col- lection of some of his finest compositions. Of particular interest for the ITG reader- ship are the many works for brass ensemble, brass quintet, solo trumpet, trumpet duet, and trumpet ensemble. The CD also includes non-trumpet works for solo clarinet, solo piano, percussion ensemble, solo tuba with electronics, and trombone ensemble. The powerful brass ensemble chords and textures in the opening track, Fanfare for Canterbury Cathedral, are thrilling and symphonic. The ten brass players on this track demonstrate power, balance, brilliance, and resonance. In contrast, the brass quintet composition A Family Portrait has a more jovial and playful sound. It is refreshing to hear such a diverse treatment of brass instru- ments in solo and chamber music. The twelve-trumpet Ina- mare is another stunningly played track, featuring students from The Juilliard School—full of clean ensemble playing, exciting colors, and impressive dynamic effects. Donald Batchelder performs the title work, Notes from Faraway Places, with tenderness and emotion. Batchelder’s musician- ship shines through on these tracks. It is a sincere and intimate five-movement work for unaccompanied trumpet, with one duet movement that includes trumpeter Raymond Mase. A high point on the CD is Mase performing Tenebrae for trumpet and organ. Mase’s elegant phrasing and lyric authenticity are inspiring.”
John Falskow, music professor, Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, WA (International Trumpet Guild Journal)
“Some composers would take exception to having their music described as immediately appealing and accessible—I doubt that David Sampson would. The blurb for this collection of 17 short pieces, many featuring brass solos or ensembles, says that Sampson’s music has been praised as “intensely honest and human,” which isn’t very helpful to a prospective listener. Looking for something better, I had the image of Charles Ives’s childhood in Danbury, Connecticut, where music was woven into the social tapestry of church Sundays, Fourth of July on the common, home musicales, dances, revival meetings, and solemn military occasions. Instead of picturing these images nostalgically, I think they still apply to what Sampson continues to do: write music that celebrates friends, offers service to his church, decorates military band concerts, honors respected teaching colleagues, and so on.”
Huntley Dent Fanfare
“As a New Jersey-based critic, I puff up with pride at the music of the Garden State’s own David Sampson. He’s the real deal. His technique in a variety of mediums is impeccable, as one would expect from someone whose composition teachers included Henri Dutilleux and John Corigliano. Moreover, Sampson’s music exudes warmth. So many of our internationally known composers, both American and European, strike me as cold fish. Sampson, however, is a robust yet sensitive individual. The works on the present disc evince a mastery of form with feeling.”
Dave Saemann Fanfare
“The present CD, Dectet, is a considerably grittier experience. Recorded in 2000- 1 and released by Albany in 2005, it never has been reviewed in Fanfare until now. It features compositions by Sampson mainly written in the 1990s, when he was in his 40s. At times he wrestles with the questions of our existence on this planet, whether over the death of a friend or a midlife crisis. Throughout, the music touches me with its directness and inventiveness. Sampson ranks with John Corigliano and William Bolcom as composers who approach their craft and their audience with equal seriousness. Sampson’s labors deserve to be rewarded with something more worthwhile than a vogue.”
Dave Saemann Fanfare
“Points, by David Sampson, a trumpeter, is a set of three eclectic sketches, the most striking being the finale, Kansas, 3:30 A.M. – a movement that begins with a beautiful horn solo (which was played from the balcony) and unfolds into an exquisitely textured contrapuntal portrait.”
Allan Kozinn New York Times
“David Sampson is a prolific and talented composer, his output vital and life-enhancing.”
Colin Clarke Fanfare
“Even when showing his coruscating side, David Sampson is an agreeable presence. This album shows that fine music is being composed outside the glare of the media spotlight. These are compositions that performers rather than the better known critics will take to their hearts. Highly recommended.”
Dave Saemann Fanfare
“The more I hear of the music of David Sampson, the more I am convinced that he is one of the major compositional voices of our time. His music has every quality I consider necessary to become enduring through the centuries. Performances are all of the highest order, and so this disc becomes a sine qua non for the serious collector of musical works from our era.”
David DeBoor Canfield Fanfare
“The highlight of these significant new brass compositions is David Sampson’s Morning Music. This work is destined to enter the repertoire of all serious brass ensembles.”
Thomas R. Erdmann International Trumpet Guild Journal
“The highlights, though, were the two selections by Morristown composer David Sampson. In fact, Shout For Joy was the most memorable selection of the entire evening. Sampson’s exuberantly joyous writing was effectively captured by the singers, conveying the sense of strength distinguishing the powerful psalm setting.”
Robert W. Butts Classical New Jersey
“The breadth and catholicity of David Sampson’s tastes supersede all that. No matter what living composers you prefer, you will find something to enjoy on this disc. If you have an open mind, you will see that this is a body of work of strength and character. Highly recommended.”
Robert W. Butts Classical New Jersey