 |
Walter Ross~ Trombone Concerto No. 2 |
|
In the summer of 1977, while we were walking along a mountain road near Aspen, Colorado, Per Brevig asked me to write another trombone concerto. I had written my first concerto for him seven years earlier, and, not knowing immediately how I might write a second one, jokingly said, "If you can name one composer in the entire history of music who has written more than one trombone concerto, I will write you another one". Of course, being a trombonist, he quickly named one. I asked him what kind of a concerto I might write. The first one had been rather short, fourteen minutes, for small orchestra, and humorous in general character. "Make it big," he said, "like something Beethoven might have written."
I struggled with different ideas on the design of the Concerto for three years (during which time I wrote fifteen other compositions) and finally decided on a three movement work without a slow movement. While the harmonic language of the composition is not that of Beethoven, it is, nevertheless, "big."
The first movement is a sonata with a slow introduction in the clarinet. This melody reappears at important structural points within the movement: in the English horn before the development section and in the solo trombone before the recapitulation.
The second movement is a scherzo, but with a slow middle section, which gives an impression of a slow movement between the two fast sections of the scherzo. The overall design is, then, fast - slow - fast, ABA'.
The last movement opens with an extended slow introduction. While the concerto does not have a slow movement per se, slow sections form an important part of the second and third movements. After the introduction, the movement then continues in a rapid tempo in the form ABAC coda. The short coda recalls the opening Allegro of the first movement.
Trombone Concerto No. 2 has been recorded by the New York Chamber Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz conductor, with John Rojak performing the trombone solo. The recording is scheduled for release from MMC in 2002.
This work is available from the composer.
This work has been recorded professionally (see above) but has not yet been released. For information on borrowing tapes of concert performances or rehearsals, please contact the composer at:
Walter Ross
527 Woodchuck Lane
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Phone: (434) 293-9617
Fax: (434) 924-6033
E-Mail: wbr@virginia.edu
| Walter Ross, wbr@virginia.edu |