<< D E T A I L S >>

Speculation (2008)
Tenor Trombone and Piano
Approximately 13 minutes
View the score (Acrobat Reader required)

Movements
1. Grave
2. Presto
3. Grave
4. Meccanico
5. Grave
Movements are played without pause.

Request Perusal Copy/Part Rental Information

<< C O M P O S E R   N O T E >>

As a trombonist myself, I’ve always had the impression that this instrument has, quite unfairly, had a reputation for being…shall we say…not so serious. The trombone is always there for the bit of humor, the occasional sexual-innuendo, and of course to hail the arrival of death and the devil in operas and symphonies. It’s prominently featured in marching bands and anywhere that needs a little power to whip up some enthusiasm.

Somehow, the phrase “as expressive as a trombone” has never entered the lexicon.

I have to admit that when I was first approached to write this piece, I had some of these unfair reservations about the instrument, and this comes from someone who has played it for about twenty years. After listening to a wide range of concert music for trombone, though, I decided that my challenge was clear: I was going to take this instrument seriously and write a piece that gave it a chance to express something meaningful.

The piece is based on a “found object,” which in this case is a fragment I wrote for solo piano a couple of years ago. The fragment has been sitting there waiting for me to find a place for it, and it has finally made it into circulation with Speculation. The fragment is split in half and can be heard as the first two piano entrances in the first movement. The fragment is defined by a rhythmic pattern of increasing note lengths, giving an original impression of slowing down, or being dragged to a halt with each statement. Meanwhile, the trombone is commenting as a response (“speculating” if you will). I built this idea into the overall form of the piece, with movements of increasing length. The first movement is a minute and a half long…the fourth and fifth are both about three and a half minutes long. The content of each movement is in some way connected to, stolen out of, or extrapolated from the music that precedes it.

There is no extra-musical story here. Instead, I wanted to take this small fragment of piano music and let the trombone and piano take it as far as it can go.  Unusually, I had the title of the piece from the moment I started work on it. The idea was to take this fragment and contemplate or consider its possibilities. What was a solo became a duet with a definite sense of discussion between the two players. When I write for piano and a solo instrument, I tend to treat the pianist as an equal partner, not accompaniment. And, while there are definitely a number of moments where the piano takes a subservient role to the trombone, there are also a few places where the opposite is true.

Speculation was commissioned by Andrew Malloy, and is receiving its first performance at this concert.

h o m e p a g e     b i o g r a p h y     w o r k s    r e c o r d i n g s     l i n k s     c o n t a c t