Review

John Frith
Second Trombonanza Suite:
Trombone Quintet: 4 tenor, 1 bass trombone

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2017
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 5 trombones

English composer, John Frith, was educated at the Darlington College of Arts and the Guildhall School of Music. Up until his retirement he worked for Worcestershire Youth Music as brass teacher and composer in residence.

This light-hearted, five-movement suite for younger players helps fill a void in our literature. The parts are labelled first through fourth trombone with the fifth part labelled “Bass Trombone 5 (teacher).” This teacher part most often doubles the fourth trombone part largely in octaves and could also be played on tuba.

The five movements are labeled: Latin Dance, Ballad, Give Me a Break!, Bass Waltz and Cruisin’ Along. As one might guess from the movement titles these pieces are fun little vignettes. They should be within the ability level of most high school trombone quartets. The range of the first part mostly respects an upper limit of g1, with one brief a-flat1 in the final movement. Not going below F, the fourth part does not require an F-attachment but contains a generous number of seventh position B-naturals. The fifth part, mostly an octave below the fourth, feels sometimes like an optional part, with the exception of “Bass Waltz” where it has solo material. But due to its low tessitura, this part will add a lot to ensemble sound if played well. While most of the melodic interest is in the first part, Frith does give the second and third parts a fair amount to do. The fourth gets less activity until it is featured as soloist in the fourth movement.

Whenever I am coaching a younger group, I’m mindful of rhythmic independence between the parts. It helps younger players to have someone rhythmically doubling them. To this end Frith frequently places the same rhythms in the second and third parts with first and fourth parts showing more independence. However, the third part does sometimes show rhythmic independence so be sure to assign a confident counter to that part. Rhythms repeat often enough that, with practice, younger groups should be able to handle these pieces.

It struck me as a bit odd that in the “Ballad” movement, the first part doesn’t have more in the way of slur marks. In “Gimme a Break!” the third part does have to cover a chromatic solo passage here and there. In this movement there are glissandi but they stick to half steps. In “Bass Waltz” the third part has more rhythmic independence and at one point the second and third parts pass eighth notes back and forth. Personally, had I been writing a “teacher’s part,” I might have doubled some of these independent spots for the sake of security. Another oddity of this movement: the fifth part is more independent including a solo passage. Perhaps I’m confused by Frith’s use of the designation “(teacher).” In “Cruisin’ Along” Frith indicates a swing style and uses dotted rhythm notation. Because of the frequent use of quarter-note triplets and the key of D major, this seems like the trickiest movement. Other movements stick mostly to F and E-flat key areas.

The score and all the parts are cleanly notated and quite readable. Everything remains in bass clef. If you are coaching a younger trombone quartet, they will have fun with this piece.