Daniel Pinkham's love of brass instruments and the organ finds expression in his occasional music for that combination, amply represented on this 2004 disc from Arsis. Yet the celebratory nature of many of these pieces sometimes makes Pinkham's music seem superficial, as if hurriedly composed for an event and loaded with conventional gestures to have a passable effect. The fanfares of the two Inaugural Marches (1983, 1985), the jaunty oompahs and chorales of the Brass Quintet (1983), and the clichés of Morning Music (1995) contribute to the impression that Pinkham is facile and perhaps too complaisant. However, Pinkham's more thoughtful writing comes through in his works for solo brass and organ, and these pieces display a greater interest in the instruments' distinctive timbres and lyrical potential. Psalms for trumpet and organ (1983, 1984), The Salutation of Gabriel for horn and organ (2000), Solemnities for trombone and organ (2000), and Dragons and Deeps for bass tuba and organ (2001) are idiomatically conceived, contrapuntally involved, harmonically challenging, and more moving for their meditative introspection. The
Huntington Brass Quintet and organist Abbey Halberg Siegfried perform Pinkham's music with energy and rich sonorities, but Worcester's Trinity Lutheran Church has highly resonant acoustics, which make the players seem far off in the choir loft.