Laszlo Tihanyi

Scene for Five Characters

The composer calls his Scene for Five Characters for brass quintet a mystery-play parody or a mystical comedy, enriched with theatrical components. The four ancient elements (fire, water, earth and air) evoked by two trumpets, cornet and trombone as performers of several imaginary scenes move on the stage around the tuba as a point of reference. The characteristic tones of the individual instruments and their related humorous representation of motifs render a basic situation of communication, illustrative of human characters and relationships. The subtitles of the nine parts provide help in understanding the scenes: Prelude Quarrel between Fire and Water Monologue of theEarth The Edges Visit the Centre Fire's Appeasing Serenade to Water Duet of Air and Earth Turning Round Tercet of Fire, Water and Air Farewell. The work is dedicated to the Ewald Brass Quintet, which premiered it in Budapest on 2 October 2001. The score contains the revised version of 2008.