Review

Jeremy Niles Kempton
Antiphonal Echoes:
8 trombones

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2020
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 8 trombones

This piece is written for two four-part choirs. As implied in its title, the basis of this piece is imitation, with two groups of four players used antiphonally. At first, the echo time is four measures; as the piece progresses, the walls move closer and the echo comes back in only two measures. At m.65 the texture becomes homophonic.

The tonality is elusive. The first 11 measures, beginning pp, are built on an open fifth, A and E. The following section is Dorian, its momentum driven by strong, off-beat accents. At m.44, a G major chord is followed by C major, both marked pp, and from m.47 the key is A minor. The final chord is spread over three octaves from AA to a¹.

This is an interesting and quite challenging piece. Although not called for in the score, it will probably be most effective with some separation between the two choirs. Range for first and fifth parts is a-c² and g-c² respectively, and for fourth and eighth parts, C-a and AA-a. An F-attachment is required for these two lower parts; bass trombone is not specified. All parts are given in bass clef, and printed on a single page.

Jeremy Niles Kempton was born in Michigan in 1944, and died age 75 in New York on January 17th, 2020. He was a graduate of The Eastman School of Music, taught for many years at schools in New York, and was the founder and conductor of the Island Chamber Symphony.