Search - Raymond Premru, Michael [Composer] Davis, Allan Schindler :: Songs, Dances & Incantations

For 'Bone Lovers Everywhere

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 09/17/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD showcases long-time Eastman School of Music trombone professor, John Marcellus, in a collection of mostly newish pieces that feature his instrument. He is accompanied by various of his Eastman colleagues in beautiful performances that are undoubtedly setting the performance standard for these pieces. The oldest [1954] and most conventional piece is the 'Concertino for Trombone and Winds' by Raymond Premru, a distinguished composer and himself a trombonist formerly with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Philip Jones Brass. It is a neoclassic work in three movements [Soliloquy, Pastoral, Toccata] that somehow also manages to swing. The other instrumentalists, all well-known and all faculty members at Eastman, are Bonita Boyd, flute, Richard Killmer, oboe, Kenneth Grant, clarinet, and John Hunt, bassoonist.The seven-minute 'Mission Red,' [1994] by Michael Davis [yes, another trombonist], is for trombone and electronics. It is a swingy bop-cum-synthesizer romp; the bouncy main theme will stay in your mind and drive you crazy if you let it. Marcellus blows good! The middle section features the 'Marcellabone,' which has a trumpet bell attached to the F-attachment tubing.'Eternal Winter' for trombone and electronics [1986], by Allan Schindler, combines spooky, glistening, icicle-y sounds with the trombone solo which itself makes use of extended techniques. Although effective in painting a scene of a winter landscape, its 14-minute length is about five minutes too long. [But then the 'Winter' IS described as 'Eternal.'] For me this is the least memorable piece on the disc.'T. Rex for Trombone and Electronics' [1996], by Mark Phillips, is a 15-minute four-movement work whose title may be interpreted as 'Tyrannosaurus Rex' or, more likely, 'Trombonus Rex.' It consists of a solo trombone (Marcellus) playing against a background of manipulated taped samples by four other trombonists, all well known: Andrew Glendenning, Kevin James, Tom Plsek, and my home [Kansas City] orchestra's very own principal 'bonist, Roger Oyster. They submitted DAT tapes with an astonishing array of weird and wonderful trombone sounds. The rumbling of the opening moments has to be heard to be believed. It certainly does depict the time when the humongous Trombonus Rex walked the land and lesser instruments had no choice but to hide! Later, T. Rex bops. What Walt Disney couldn't have done with this music. If you don't laugh out loud when you hear the funny sounds [hard to believe they're all from trombones!] in IV, you aren't listening. 'Tara's Theme' from "Gone With the Wind" is a cool-down after the T. Rex monster. It's an arrangement for trombone ensemble (Eastman's Bionic Bones) of Max Steiner's tune. Mellow.The longest [and, I think, best] piece is the four-movement, 17-minute 'Songs, Dances and Incantations' for slightly odd combination of trombone, tenor sax, cello and piano [1993] by Bill Dobbins. The title is taken from something the great trumpet-player, Jimmy Maxwell, said: 'If a piece of music doesn't make you want to sing, dance, or pray, there ain't nothin' happenin'.' The other players are Ramon Ricker, sax, Ron Gardiner, cello, and Bill Dobbins, piano. I is a lovesong sung by the three melody instruments, with burbling piano accompaniment. II is a syncopated dance with irregular meters; one can imagine Twyla Tharp choreographing this with her trademarked asymmetric angularities. III has the cello singing a melancholy song with the trombone making contrapuntal comments before the sax comes in with a perky fugue theme that then gets a jazzy workout by the whole group. IV returns to the wistful, melancholy vein and each instrument gets a chance to sing its heart out. The two 'jazz' instruments--sax, trombone--are particularly effective against impressionistic piano chords and cello bass line, and the whole suite comes to a lovely hushed ending. I loved this disc. With the exception of the too-long, but still effective, 'Eternal Winter,' I think every one of these pieces has a future. I recognize that a full CD of trombone music isn't everyone's cup of tea--yeah, we old trombonists know we play a kinda weird instument--but those of you who do like this kind of thing, go for it!TT=69.47Scott Morrison"