Review

Christopher Alan Schmitz
Sonata for Bass Trombone and Piano:: Call of the Opera
Bass trombone and piano

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

Score and solo part.

Primary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with piano

The repertoire for solo bass trombone continues to increase, and, as a result, the technique and expressive qualities of the instrument are being expanded. Christopher Alan Schmitz wrote his Sonata for Bass Trombone and Piano: Call of the Opera (the same piece is also published as Concerto with orchestra accompaniment) for Denson Paul Pollard. Pollard is well known as a faculty member at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and bass trombonist of New York City’s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The composer, who was one of Pollard’s trombone teachers, is professor of Music Theory and Composition at Mercer University, Georgia.

The three movement Sonata is an attractive work that employs snippets from the operatic repertoire, but while listeners may periodically notice a short fragment or several intervals that are familiar reminders of operas, the piece is not a pastiche of familiar themes. Rather, the references to operatic works are mostly subtle, and listeners can appreciate the piece without playing a musical “Where’s Waldo?” game.

Written for Paul Pollard’s considerable abilities, less accomplished players will experience difficulty coping with the articulative and tempo demands. Pollard makes it all—rapid slurs and rapid single and double tonguing—sound easy but it is not (for reference, there is a YouTube recording of Pollard performing the Sonata in recital). The outer movements have a breathless character to them—the third movement changes meter frequently throughout—but the second movement, Arioso, spins a beautiful melody. It has become de rigueur for many of today’s composers to write in the extreme high range for bass trombone and this piece is no exception, although players can always take passages down an octave. The long-held f2 near the end of the piece seems a little gratuitous (even the ossia c1 seems unnecessary), but the low end of the piece extends only to EE, something that should be in any capable bass trombonist’s wheelhouse. The piano accompaniment is not for the faint hearted; it requires a player of considerable ability to deal with its technical demands. Cherry Classics has laid out the solo part with sensible page turns and its usual crisp look to the music. The several preview pages on the publisher's website will certainly help players decide if the Sonata is something that is within their abilities, or if it presents challenges that will help push them to new skill levels.