Page 57 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

You just signed a five-album deal with Warner. The first one, Quiet
City, explores American music from the 20th century and will be

released on August 26th. You recorded Copland’s Quiet City, a newly

edited version of Bernstein’s Lonely Town from On the Town,

Ives’s Unanswered Question, a brand-new orchestral arrangement
from Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and two works by the iconic

Miles Davis/Gil Evans partnership, Concierto de Aranjuez and My

Ship.

What inspired your selection of works?

It started from my decades-long love for Copland’s Quiet City, which is

just such an incredible piece. It’s very profound, it’s very universally
expressive of the times that he was living in when he wrote it and the

times we’re living in now, and it’s also one of those pieces where I feel

proud to have played the trumpet. In many ways, it goes against what

most people stereotypically think is the trumpet. It shows that the