Review

Mark Narins
Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra:
Trombone and orchestra (piano reduction)

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

Score and solo part.

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano
Secondary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with orchestra

This is a substantial and virtuosic work for advanced players. It is written in a lyrical and extended tonal style and has a distinctive originality. Key signatures are used throughout, ranging from four flats to five sharps, but the music often has a quite distant relationship to the signature key. Tempi are flexible, with many changes indicated within each movement. Bass and tenor clefs are used; overall range is AA–c-sharp². There are adequate rest measures throughout, 188 altogether. The piano part is also quite difficult, but has no chord span greater than an octave.

The concerto is cast in four movements; the first has the title Prayer. Its first section is marked Reverently - in a trance. The key signature is C major/A minor, but it begins pianississimo on a chord of A major and ends even more ambiguously on unison A. The second section, Allegretto, is in D minor and is announced by widely spread arpeggios on the piano and the soloist trilling on a¹. The final Allegro section opens with a chord of A-flat minor and cycles through signatures of four flats and three sharps, to a final chord of C major, proceeding Attacca into the following movement.

II. Meditation: The first section, Andante con moto, is in F minor, but has a gravitational pull toward the major. The following Piu mosso section has a signature of five sharps; its tonality is again quite fluid. The solo part features largely step-wise movement throughout. There are many tempo changes within the range quarter = 72 to half = 88, and again, many widely spread arpeggios in the piano part. The soloist trills on high b-flat¹/c-flat². The final chord is F-sharp minor.

III. Call and Response (Optional): Allegro, quarter = 112. This movement, also in F minor, begins with repeated g’s on the piano, against which the soloist enters on f¹. The harmonic tension relentlessly increases up to two measures of repeated 32nd notes crescendo in the trombone part. There are frequent adjustments of tempo; markings include take time, with abandon and triumphant. The movement ends with the soloist playing c², fortissimo, held over six measures. The final chord, spread over five octaves, is F major.

IV Exaltation: Allegro Vivo. The soloist enters on c¹ in an F major chord. Again, there are many 16th, triplet 16th, and 32nd notes. The movement runs through seven key areas, from four flats to four sharps. The final section, Allegro molto, in 6/8, dotted quarter = 144, ends fortissimo on a c-sharp minor chord, spread over six octaves, the soloist playing c-sharp¹.

Mark Narins is a composer, conductor, operatic tenor and trombonist in San Francisco, CA.