Review

Gary Kulesha
Sonata for Trombone and Piano:

Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2013
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Piano score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Gary Kulesha is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator. He holds degrees from The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, with additional compositional studies in England with John McCabe and in New York City with John Corigliano. He currently teaches on the music faculty at the University of Toronto and since 1995, has been Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Mr. Kulesha's music has been commissioned, performed, and recorded by musicians and ensembles all over the world. 

Composer’s note:
The Trombone Sonata is the third of a series of solo sonatas. I knew very definitely that I wanted to write sonatas for bassoon, flute, and trombone and I made a deliberate attempt to write music that played against the perceived traditional role of the solo instrument, with the Trombone Sonata being aerial and lyrical. The trombone's music soars and sings, and never becomes march-like or stentorian. I even chose key centers that are completely antithetical to the way the instrument is designed. Most of the work is centered on E or G, even though the trombone is fundamentally pitched in B Flat. The first movement is flowing and lyrical, while the second is a fleeting Allegro. The third movement is for trombone alone, and can be performed separately under the title of "Mirror". The finale is a traditional fast virtuoso display.
 
This is a wonderful piece of music, conservative in its language, well crafted, idiomatic and interesting throughout. It requires a mature performer with good control of both upper and lower registers and excellent musical insights. It was written for and premiered by Gordon Wolfe, principal trombone of the Toronto Symphony. It is beautifully recorded on his solo compact disc Reflections, gordwolfe@rogers.com. Mr. Wolfe describes the Sonata as eerie, intricate and, at times, epic. 

-Karl Hinterbichler
University of New Mexico