# Rouse: Trombone Concerto



## Shosty (Mar 16, 2020)

Christopher Rouse's Trombone Concerto currently sits on the 110th tier of the Talk Classical community's favorite and most highly recommended works.

Wikipedia has a good article about it. Rouse's full program notes for the piece can be found in its Boosey and Hawkes page.

This is the first work in a series of compositions by Rouse, often called the "death cycle" which are all reactions to several deaths in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In this case the trombone concerto is dedicated to Leonard Bernstein who had died in 1990. In 1993 it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Currently, there are but three recordings of the piece (according to Presto Classical, ArkivMusic, and streaming platforms:



> 1. Lindberg, Llewellyn (cond.), BBC National Orchestra of Wales (1996)
> 2. Alessi, Slatkin (cond.), New York Philharmonic (1999)
> 3. Alessi, Alsop (cond.), Colorado Symphony Orchestra (2007)


Here's a link to the YouTube playlist of the Alessi, Alsop recording.

What do you think about this work? Do you like it? Why? Do you have any reservations about it?


----------



## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

nice Shosty. I'm a beginner fan of Rouse and am ploughing through his symphonies. I can't believe he passed me by for so long. His 3rd is such a blast. The concertos are on my list to get to know.


----------



## Shosty (Mar 16, 2020)

mikeh375 said:


> nice Shosty. I'm a beginner fan of Rouse and am ploughing through his symphonies. I can't believe he passed me by for so long. His 3rd is such a blast. The concertos are on my list to get to know.


I'm a beginner myself and I'm so glad to have started with the Alessi, Alsop, Colorado SO recording, which contains Gorgon and Iscariot as well as the trombone concerto, all of which I absolutely loved.


----------



## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Shosty said:


> I'm a beginner myself and I'm so glad to have started with the Alessi, Alsop, Colorado SO recording, which contains Gorgon and Iscariot as well as the trombone concerto, all of which I absolutely loved.


I've already bookmarked it....


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I bought the Lindberg CD when it was released, and a complete Rouse CD (Symphony 2, Flute concerto, Phaeton) soon thereafter. I enjoyed them very much, and collected a few more Rouse CD's over the years. He was always on my shortlist of top living composers - until he died last year. The trombone concerto is probably my favourite work of his - also because I have a thing for unusual concertos.


----------



## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

Thank you for this. He's not someone I've ever heard of, and I've enjoyed the trombone concerto so much, I've gone out and bought his symphonies 3 & 4, his clarinet concerto and his flute concerto. Call me a convert...


----------



## Shosty (Mar 16, 2020)

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> Thank you for this. He's not someone I've ever heard of, and I've enjoyed the trombone concerto so much, I've gone out and bought his symphonies 3 & 4, his clarinet concerto and his flute concerto. Call me a convert...


Glad to hear it.:tiphat:


----------

