Review

Daniel Kessner
Chants and Echoes:
Four tenor, two bass trombones

Santa Clarita, California, United States
Publisher: Theodore Front Musical Literature
Date of Publication: 2019
URL: http://www.tfront.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 6 trombones

Daniel Kessner was born in 1946 in Los Angeles. He has composed prolifically and is currently Emeritus Professor of Music at California State University, Northridge.

This piece, in a freely chromatic style, is for four tenor and two bass trombones; bass clef is used throughout in all parts. The composer has designated parts by Roman numerals and indicates that part V, F-sharp-c¹, may be played on tenor or bass trombone. A single movement is punctuated by three,  brief contrasting sections: a trio, trombones IV, V and VI, a duet, trombones II and III, and an accompanied solo for trombone IV, B-flat–e¹. Range for part I is A-flat-b-flat¹, and for part VI, CC-d¹.

Tempi are in the range of ♩ = 48-66. The initial marking is Solenne. From a unison e-flat, three parts move to f in measure 3. The players are instructed to ‘listen carefully, balancing the two tones and tuning them.’ In measure 6 an a-flat is added and as the piece develops, its tessitura expands, the texture becomes quite complex, and parts become more independent with much use of rhythmic patterns of three against four, and in two measures, three against five. There are several other distinct sections including a Trio, IV-V-VI, Duet, II-III and Solo, first part accompanied by II-VI. The two tones E-flat/F re-appear in the last 11 measures and ‘the goal here is to make a special effort so that the major second is perceived as much as possible as a single sound.’

This imaginative and quite challenging piece may be stylistically unique in the trombone literature to date. It was written originally for six horns, but in the composer’s words, ‘adapts beautifully for Trombone Ensemble.’ At the time of writing, the first performance is due to be given at the Tourbon Festival in Santiago, Chile on January 27th, 2020. Individual parts have not been received for review; score and parts are available for download from Theodore Front Musical Literature at https://www.tfront.com/