UCPO Concert History

Rimsky-Korsakov - Trombone Concerto

Notes by Charles:

The Trombone Concerto I walked into Millers Music looking for a recording of this piece, and couln't find one. When I asked the bloke in the shop about it, he gave me a very strange look; 'Trombone Concerto?'; in the same tone of voice as 'Computer Science student?'. Dispite being little known by the general public and by Millers shop assistants, the Rimsky Korsakov is possibly the trombone solo piece. It was originally written for Military band for the Russian Navy as part of a series of wind solo pieces during Rimsky's position as Bandmaster. Despite being quite short, the three standard concerto movements manage to cover a fair amount of the trombone's capabilities. The first movement consists of two main themes; a grand fanfare and a quieter section, all in Bb to make the slide positions as convenient as possible. The second movement is the most beautiful piece of trombone music that I know of, and tries to disprove the old joke that the dynamic range of the 'bone is "on or off". Then without a break between movements, we return to a more typical Rimsky military style, which includes some really dangerous fast runs and the main cadenza. Oh yes.