Review


Anthony Plog
Interplay:
Tenor trombone and piano

Vuarmarens, , Switzerland
Publisher: Editions BIM
Date of Publication: 2014
URL: http://www.editions-bim.com

Score and solo part

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

While working on his doctoral thesis on the solo trombone and piano music of Anthony Plog, David Day approached Plog about writing a scherzo for trombone. The result of this commission is Interplay, a work that aptly fits Day’s request for “something fun and light-hearted, not too difficult or physically taxing that can fill in a recital as an opener or closer.” [David Theodore Day, “A Performer’s Guide to the Solo Trombone and Piano Music of Anthony Plog” (DMA Thesis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2015), 88.] In his introductory notes, Plog refers to Interplay as “becoming progressively thrilling like a race between cop and robber.”

The work introduces the soloist and accompanist with tentative, pointillistic entrances before entering the main section of lightly articulated themes that contrast with lyrical passages. A cadenza leads to the coda where the tempo accelerates substantially. With no extreme range demands (B-flat to a-flat¹), the difficulty of Interplay lies in the coordination of rapid passages between trombone and piano and clarity of articulation on the part of the soloist. This is a charming, unpretentious work that achieves its stated goal.

Reviewer: Douglas Yeo
Review Published June 15, 2023