The Java House & Plog

 This week I wanted to highlight another near Voxman favorite: The Java House. The Java House has multiple locations in Iowa City, with their downtown one being a short walk from the music building. I'll go ahead and give a disclaimer that this is not my favorite spot for regular coffee orders... 

However! I think the Java House stands out in two categories. First, it is my favorite place to hold meetings or work with friends. The noise level is just right, there is plenty of seating, and the free Wifi has yet to disappoint me. The Java House also stands out in their fun seasonal drinks. They're often too sweet for me for my usual caffeine fix, however they're fun to share with a friend for a mid day treat. For this excursion, I went with my friend Xiaoyu (who also has a blog, check it out!) and we each enjoyed a coconut dream latte (which if you like your drinks to not actually taste like coffee I highly recommend) and each other's company. 

The same way I wanted to highlight a coffee shop this week that is best enjoyed with friends, I wanted to discuss a piece of music which I feel similarly about: Anthony Plog's Trio for Brass. I first performed this piece in a trio with my fiancé Martin (you'll notice a trend in addition to coffee to this blog...) and our friend Lindsey. This ensemble was my first foray into brass ensembles outside of horn quartets, horn choirs, and brass quintets. The biggest thing that sticks out about this trio in comparison to the Poulenc Trio is that instead of trumpet, this work calls for flugelhorn rather than trumpet (funny story that hopefully Lindsey won't mind if I tell... she originally was playing this piece on a flugelhorn with a trumpet mouthpiece and it was only after our coach gave her a bad time did I learn that the two instruments have different mouthpieces). I think that this alteration to the instrumentation allows for a much more mellow & blended ensemble sound.  

The piece is divided into two main sections, the first of which consists of three movements and the second of which contains the last two movements. 

The piece begins with a fast opening movement. Each of the voices plays highly chromatic snaking lines, punctuated with group accents on changing beats. The mood changes to something more martial about halfway through the movement with the introduction of the two sixteenth note motif. The movement ends with the first cadenza performed by the flugelhorn which combines the two main themes of the opening movement. 

In contrast to the first movement, the second movement is a calm andante. It opens with a long, lyrical line in the flugelhorn contrasted with a staccato accompaniment figure in the trombone. This movement transitions to the brisk third movement with accelerandos in the horn cadenza. 

The third movement concludes the first part to this piece. The time signatures alternate between triple and duple under more highly chromatic lines. At this point is the first break in the piece as the previous movements are performed attacca which contributes to the challenging stamina aspect to this work. 

The second part begins with a slow adagio, dragging through long chromatic lines. This movement ends with the final cadenza of the work performed by (you guessed it!) the trombone. Similarly to the horn cadenza, this one ends with accelerandos to aid in the transition to the fast finale. 

The final movement is a quick allegro vivace. This movement opens with an almost homophonic texture, in high contrast to the contrapuntal style of most of the work. We hear brief glimpses of thematic material from the opening movement sandwiched between passages of new material. The latter half of this movement features a drawn out crescendo between the three voices building into the final allegro vivace. 

One last self plug, I'm really excited to say that Plog's Horn Sonata, which I was part of the commissioning consortium for, has officially been premiered! I'm really happy to have contributed to bringing this piece to life and I highly recommend you check it out.