Review

David Fetter
Situation Update: for tenor trombone and piano

Vancouver, BC, , Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2012
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Also available with wind band accompaniment

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Trombonist, composer, and arranger David Fetter, is a former member of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony and currently serves on faculty at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. His popular solo trombone works include Variations of Palestrina’s “Dona Nobis Pacem” and “Spain” from Bass Lines. Fetter’s recent work Situation Update, premiered by Ron Barron in 2015, is a suite in three movements: “Swift,” “Longing,” and “Exit Music.” Marked Intense, “Swift” conveys the Devil’s swagger as he celebrates humans ruining planet earth, thus making his job easy. It is filled with driving rhythms, colorful harmonies, and exciting effects while emphasizing wide intervallic leaps, particularly the tritone. “Longing” is a slow, contemplative movement that provides contrast in its simple beauty. “Exit Music” opens energetically and transitions between quick syncopated sections with chromatic lines and a soft lyrical section before ending with a huge climax. In Fetter’s words, “Exit Music” depicts “The Devil’s music as the humans march off the edge. A poignant art song fills a lull, but it is trampled by more humans.” Situation Update provides the soloist with the opportunity to really switch gears between the aggressive “devil music” and gorgeous, lush melodic lines. The trombone range ascends to c2 and does not require an f attachment. Both the solo trombone and piano parts are written for advanced performers. Accessible to ambitious college level students and professionals alike, this is an exciting “in-between length” piece to feature on your upcoming recital.