Review

John Kenny
Sonata for Unaccompanied Bass Trombone:

Coventry, , United Kingdom
Publisher: Warwick Music Publishers
Date of Publication: 2003
URL: http://www.warwickmusic.com

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - unaccompanied

Written in 1999, John Kenny’s Sonata is a three-movement exploration of colors and techniques dedicated “In Memory of Ray Premru.” This is a virtuoso tour de force for solo bass trombone that should be seriously considered both as a primer in modern techniques and as a pleasant experience for the audience. The musical language includes (among others) a chant-like opening, micro-tones, a sort of bolero and a brief jazzy section. The work requires a solid upper register, good flexibility and confident multi-phonic technique. The multi-phonic passages include both the sung and “lip” techniques and are idiomatically constructed to be quite approachable. The work also uses percussive breath sounds, vowels sounds in and outside the horn, whistling, valve slide pops, Harmon mute and a hat. The score is well laid out with great consideration for page turns and readability of the extended notation. There is also a clear explanation of the techniques. While there are a number of works for tenor trombone that explore this wide array of sounds and techniques, there are relatively few parallels for bass trombone. This work is an important addition to the repertoire and serves an important role in expanding it while exposing bass trombonists to extended techniques.

Bamburgh Beach was written in 1999 as a sister work to his Sonata for Unaccompanied Bass Trombone and was premiered by David Taylor at the 1999 British Trombone Festival. Also written for unaccompanied bass trombone, this work is quite different from the Sonata. The three movements are based on poetry by Dylan Thomas, John Kenny and Eric Mottram and the musical language is more reflective and improvisatory with the performer instructed to create passages based on the text. Although Bamburgh Beach incorporates many of the same extended techniques used in the Sonata, the result is different. There is a darker, more dramatic tone to this work; the unusual techniques wrap it in layers of extended imagery. This is a serious piece that demands fluency with extended techniques and careful reflection on the part of the performer in order to project the imagery of the text. Bamburgh Beach is worthy of serious consideration, especially for the trombonist that has already tackled the Sonata.

-Andrew Glendening
University of Redlands