Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble (Tyzik)

From Wind Repertory Project
Jeff Tyzik

Jeff Tyzik


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General Info

Year: 2003 / 2004
Duration: c. 22:30
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Trombone and orchestra
Publisher: Macaroni Music
Cost: Score and Parts (digital) - $475.00


Movements

1. Prelude & Scherzo
2. Lament
3. Dance


Instrumentation

Full Score
Solo Trombone
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V

(percussion detail desired)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

There are few trombone concertos are in the symphonic repertoire. Perhaps because the trombone is viewed as less virtuosic than other brass instruments such as the trumpet or French horn. Or maybe it's out of ignorance of the trombone's lyrical potential or versatility. But composers, historically speaking, haven't taken to it much.

According to pops conductor, arranger and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik, that was reason enough to write his Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra.

"As a composer one of the things you try to do is add to an area where there's little music available," he says. "It would be great to write a flute or clarinet concerto. The challenge is where there isn't too much."

"Most of the trombone concertos out there are written in one style. This piece has a lot of challenges," says trombone soloist David Garcia, including mastering an array of musical influences from Afro/Cuban music, jazz, Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich to pops. "[The concerto] has a wide range on the instrument -- four octaves, which is rather extreme but which I also enjoy," he says. "I like to be able to push the envelope a little."

The piece also pushes the orchestra, notes Tyzik. It plays more than mere accompaniment for the solo instrument, making it an integral part of the musical action. For instance, the first movement, Prelude and Scherzo, and the final movement, Dance – with its rollicking 7/8 meter – contain antiphonal or "call and response" writing where the trombone makes a statement and the orchestra responds, and vice versa, in a sort of musical duel. The heart of the concerto is the second movement's Lament, which expresses some of Tyzik's feelings about 9/11.

"I don't follow specific forms," says Tyzik. "What I feel instinctively is that it has to be logical. It has to make sense to me, has to be emotional, can't be dry or flat or be music that doesn't have soul."

"Accessibility is a natural thing [for me]," says the composer, who emphasizes the lyrical and rhythmic aspects of the concerto. (Its extensive percussion component includes an African djembe drum.) In his pops programming, he also deliberately chooses a cross-section of music that he feels will appeal to a broad audience.

"There are people who want a symphonic experience who don't have the stomach for the Verdi Requiem," he says.

Tyzik wrote his concerto beginning with the finale and then finishing with the first movement, which he nearly completed in one weekend. He says he has great respect for the instrument and the soloist for whom it was written, Mark Kellogg of the Rochester Philharmonic. Tyzik and the orchestra received an NEA grant to support the project.

- Program Note adapted from Chesapeake Bay Wind Ensemble concert program, 4 March 2023


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Chesapeake Bay Wind Ensemble (Hampton, Va.) (William Garlette, conductor; Joshua Britton, trombone) - 4 March 2023


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources