Review

Mark Nightingale
Trigger-Happy :

Coventry, , United Kingdom
Publisher: Warwick Music Publishers
Date of Publication: 2009
URL: http://www.warwickmusic.com

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with piano

This unpretentious piece will make a good set-closer or possibly encore tune, though the Allegretto marking does not quite qualify for the latter, even though the tempo increases later. Tempos range from M.M. 116-124, medium fast throughout. It requires a moderate amount of technical proficiency, with abundant sixteenth-note runs that lie extremely well on the instrument and are generally marked legato. With just a few alternate positions, even the most difficult passages flow nicely. It might be suitable for a more advanced high school student or as a crowd pleaser on a collegiate junior recital. Accompaniment demands are quite modest. The piece behaves a bit like a rondo, approximately ABACA, though the final 'A' section is cast in major instead of minor and goes faster. The 'B' theme is slightly more lyric and modulates to C major, in contrast to the opening jaunty A minor melody. The piece is indeed "happy," reminiscent possibly of Schumann's "Jolly Farmer" or Gliere's "Russian Sailor's Dance." And it does require "trigger" dexterity (the other half of the title, ignoring the double entendre). Range is a smidgen over three octaves, from pedal EE to f1. Extended, diminished seventh arpeggios will need some drilling but again they flow quite well with idiomatic slide patterns. The piece is in 2/4 meter and is only 158 bars long, approximately three minutes in length. A frippery, if it fills the bill. It is well-written, not taking itself too seriously.

 -Gerry Sloan
University of Arkansas