Review

Marcus Weeks
Carreaux:

Coventry, , United Kingdom
Publisher: Warwick Music Publishers
Date of Publication: 2010
URL: http://www.warwickmusic.com

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 4 trombones

Marcus Weeks is an English composer, arranger and writer. Carreaux was composed in 2009 and won second prize in the British Trombone Society’s 2008/2009 quartet composition contest. It was premiered later that year by the Black Dyke trombone quartet. Carreaux is the French word meaning squares, checks, or diamonds, as in the shape on a deck of cards. This is a theater type piece as the quartet is asked to perform in the shape of a diamond amongst the audience with at least 4 meters between the performers. The players should be standing and facing inwards to maintain eye contact with each other. The work is cast in eight short sections, each having a signature sound such as fanfare, glissando, single note, chorale, and cluster of semitones. The first section, fanfare, is marked slow quarter note at 50. The remaining seven sections are much faster ranging from quarter note at 150 to 225. The colors and timbers that Weeks creates are interesting and challenging. His use of dynamics and glissandi is inventive and creates a fascinating siren effect. Rhythmic complexity is high requiring advanced players. Use of dynamics in the final section is also quite interesting. Parts one and two are written in tenor clef, parts three and four in bass clef.  Part one ascends to a-flat1 and down to BB-flat, part four to a-flat1 and down to CC. All parts require use of alternate positions to create glissandi and involve complex rhythmic patterns. I highly recommend this work. It is challenging but well worth the effort as it creates new and exciting trombone quartet sounds.

-Thomas Zugger
Capital University