Review

Alejandro Guardia, Jr.
Monolith:

Louisville, KY, United States
Publisher: Potenza Music Publishing
Date of Publication: 2013
URL: http://www.potenzamusic.com

Piano score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with piano

Alejandro Guardia, Jr. is currently the Assistant Director of Bands at Miami Killian Senior High School, and an active low brass studio musician in South Florida. He started composing at the age of 15. Since then, his original works have been performed several times throughout the United States. The composer writes the following:
For many centuries, large stone figures have brought up more questions than answers about the life of the ancient times in which they were created. Monolith for bass trombone explores and in some cases fantasizes one of those theories. In the piece, the bass trombone represents the large mysterious figure and gives insight to what it has seen over its many centuries of standing watch.
More detailed and extensive program notes are included in the score. A miniature tone poem, Monolith is cast in five sections alternating dark mysterious moods with energetic dance music. It is traditional in terms of melody, harmony, rhythm and timbres. The solo part is moderate in its technical and musical demands, playable by a good college level performer. It comes in two versions, soloist (either tuba or bass trombone) with piano or soloist with trombone quartet/trombone choir. It is dedicated to Jose Leonardo Leon who premiered it in Aguascalientes, Mexico as part of the 2013 National Trombone Week Festival. There is a version for solo tuba with trombone quartet on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nE36XkTHqA and a version for bass trombone with trombone quartet (midi file) at this site: https://soundcloud.com/alejandro-guardia-jr/monolith-solo-bass-trombone.

-Karl Hinterbichler
University of New Mexico