"There’s something about Italian vocal music that is well-suited to brass instruments; whether it is vibrant bravura writing or a soaring cantilena. Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Mattinata (Morning or Morning Serenade, to be more poetic) certainly soars and captures the sparkle of a bright new day. The lyrics (by the composer himself) are a greeting from a lover to his partner urging her to awaken and come to him – sunlight is missing without her!

The music is suitably bright and cheery, becoming slightly more grandiose toward the end. In arranging it for trumpet I wanted to provide players with something in D major that wasn’t a Baroque trumpet tune and featured lyrical yet agile lines."
(Eric Wilson)