I found Eric Ewazen’s Triple Concerto for Three Trombones and Orchestra in a round-about way.
I was listening to my local classical music radio channel, WVTF, a few mornings ago, and one of the selections they played was Johannes Brahms’ “Academic Overture.” Meh. I’ve never been a fan of Brahms. Just a few weeks ago I listened to and reviewed Brahm’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (HERE) – and yes, it turns out that I had, in fact, heard the piece before – but Brahms is never my “go to” composer when I’m in the mood for classical music, so I just didn’t put two-and-two together to know that I was familiar with the piece (especially the first movement). So when I heard Brahms' “Academic Overture” on the radio I thought perhaps I’d give him another chance, and I wondered if he had written a concerto for trombone. Why the trombone? I used to play the trombone in high school and college, and I thought it would be fun to listen to a piece written specifically for the instrument. However, when I ran a Google-search for a Brahms concerto for trombone – of which there is none – I found this post, “The trombone players in the Buffalo Philharmonic asked composer Eric Ewazen if he would write something especially for them. Ewazen loved the idea and came up with his Triple Concerto for Three Trombones and Orchestra.” (HERE) Wow. A triple concerto. For three trombones. It sure sounded interesting. Alas, I did listen to it this week, and – sad to say – I did not find it interesting at all. Oh, it was pleasant enough, and the sound of three trombones was rich and sonorous – but to be honest, I thought it was boring. I had planned to listen to it again, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Perhaps I’m being too harsh. Like I said, it was a pleasant enough piece – it just didn’t embody anything special that captured my interest – so maybe just classify it as decent enough background music? I mean, I didn’t hate it. So back to Brahms for just a sec. When I found no trombone concerto composed by Brahms (not that every composer writes something for every instrument), I wondered when the trombone made its entry into the orchestra, and I found this: “The first use of the trombone as an independent instrument in a symphony was in the Symphony in E♭ (1807) by Swedish composer Joachim Nicolas Eggert. But the composer usually credited with the trombone's introduction into the symphony orchestra was Ludwig van Beethoven in Symphony No. 5 in C minor (1808).” (HERE) So the trombone was most definitely around during Brahms’ time. I also found information, HERE, on the standard trombone repertoire. I ran a word search on the term “concerto” on that page, and it appears 39 times. Interestingly enough, of all the concertos listed, all but five are from the 20th or 21st centuries. The five earlier concertos are as follows:
Hmm. Seems as though the trombone is the viola of the brass section? The viola obviously adds depth and breadth to the strings section, but its overall sound as a solo instrument just doesn't seem to be one that is favored by the human ear – and similarly so for the trombone? Its sound adds depth and breadth to the brass section, but as a solo instrument it plays second fiddle to the trumpet and/or French horn. I dunno. I’m just speculating. Anyway, if you have time, listen to Ewazen’s Triple Concerto for Three Trombones and let me know what you think.
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On various occasions on this site, I’ve listened to secondary pieces by composers thought to be “one hit wonders” (like Pachelbel). However, in this case, I can’t even say that I think of César Cui as a “one hit wonder,” because I can’t even name a single piece by him. As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure how one pronounces his name. Is that a hard or soft “C” in “Cui”? And does the name rhyme with the French word “Oui”? Oh, I’ve always heard of César Cui. I learned a bit about him by reading the backs of album covers in my youth, certainly albums with classic hits by Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and/or Mussorgsky. The articles would always reference “the Five” (or "the Mighty Five"), a group of prominent 19th-century Russian composers who worked together to create a distinct national style of classical music – and Cui was one of them. Info on Wikipedia about “the Five” is HERE. That’s why I selected a piece by Cui this week. I figured it was about time. LOL. I typed his name into the YouTube search bar and picked at random the Suite No. 3 for orchestra “In modo populari,” Op. 43. The suite includes six movements: I. Allegro moderato II. Moderato III. Vivace IV. Moderato V. Allegretto VI. Vivace, ma non troppo Since this is the only piece by Cui that I’ve ever heard (excluding any piece I might have heard on the radio not realizing it was something by Cui), I have no idea how typical it is (or isn’t) compared to the rest of his work. I will say that if “the Five” set out “to create a distinct national style,” I suspect that this piece is not a typical Cui as it did not sound to me to have a “distinct national style” of Russian music from the late 19th century. On the other hand, one commenter under the YouTube video I linked above said this, “I suppose one of the main differences between Cui and the other four members of the Mighty Five was his own non-Russian background: his father was French while his mother was Lithuanian. I assume he was suitably encouraging towards the efforts of the others while, at the same time, seeming to exempt himself from the task of composing specifically nationalist works. I can only base this assumption on the handful of his compositions I’ve heard. ‘In Modo Populari’ is, I think, a delightfully appealing suite filled with memorable folk-like melodies and deft orchestration. Whether or not it sounds particularly Russian is neither here nor there to me. I really enjoyed its gentle, lyrical quality.” Based on those comments, perhaps this suite is, in fact, more typical of Cui’s work? While nothing stood out to me to make this piece particularly memorable, the YouTube commenter I quoted was accurate in his description of the piece – it is lyrical, folksy, and gentle. UPDATE:
Are you familiar with the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon? It's often referred to as the frequency illusion or recency bias (information is HERE), and it refers to any situation where something you recently learned about suddenly seems to appear everywhere -- and the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon just occurred to me this morning, exactly one week after publishing the post above. I was listening to WQXR out of New York this morning, and for the very first time I heard an announcer introduce a work by César Cui -- at least, it's the first time I was aware of hearing something by Cui -- and he pronounced the name as César "KWEE." So there it is. ;-) The work, by the way, was "Three Scherzos, Op. 82: No. 2 in F Major," and it was certainly very pleasant though nothing memorable or ear-catching (the sensory cousin to "eye-catching").
On at least two occasions on this site, I’ve listened to a secondary piece by composers thought to be “one-hit wonders.” Just recently, HERE, I listened to a piece by Charles-Marie Widor. Back in April of 2021 I listened to a piece by Johann Pachelbel, HERE.
Just recently I heard Reinhold Gliere’s “Russian Sailor's Dance” on the radio, and I thought to myself, “Hmm…I wonder why he never appears on the ‘one-hit wonder’ lists when I’ve searched for them in the past?” Do you know any other song by Gliere? I didn’t – so I typed his name into YouTube, and I landed (at random) on his French Horn concerto in B Flat Major. An article in Wikipedia (HERE) notes that it is “one of the major works in the horn repertoire,” so I suspect that horn players and/or horn aficionados may be familiar with this piece. However, as I am sure you surmised by my earlier comments, I am only familiar with his “Russian Sailor's Dance,” described in Wikipedia’s biographical piece on Gliere (HERE) as “his best-known single piece, and (it) is still heard at symphony concerts around the world, frequently as an encore.” Completed in 1951, the French horn concerto is comprised of three movements: I. Allegro II. Andante III. Moderato - Allegro vivace In the first movement, the orchestra opens with a bold and confident theme that is soon echoed by the solo horn. The second movement is beautifully tender, and the melodies literally soar. Then, after a bit of a mysterious introduction to the third movement, the horn quickens the tempo with a playful melody that races the piece to the end. Much of this concerto is so lush and romantic (and even majestic at times) that it sounds like it could be used as a movie soundtrack – like that soundtrack from David Lean’s “Brief Encounter.” Have you ever seen “Brief Encounter”? The music alone makes it worth watching – and that’s because the entire movie makes use of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (though not played in order). I can easily imagine some movie maker using the moods and melodies of Gliere’s horn concerto effectively to underscore a movie. It is a lovely piece. Listen to it when you get a chance, and I think you’ll agree with me that Reinhold Gliere does not belong on a list of “one hit wonders.” ; ) |
A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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