# Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Trombones!



## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Just been watching the Berlin Phil on their digital platform (for free)._* Mahler 3*_, Elina Garanca, soprano and conducted by Lorenzo Viotti (what a surname!).

The tromboning (is there such a word?!), is orgasmic!

Where else in classical music is the trombone so indescribably amazing???

Give us your views ..........


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Sibelius 7 has the greatest, most soul-stirring, most awe-inspiring use of the trombone in a symphony that I know. Otherwise it really doesn't get to be released for its own solos very often...


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Sibelius 7 has the greatest, most soul-stirring, most awe-inspiring use of the trombone in a symphony that I know. Otherwise it really doesn't get to be released for its own solos very often...


Yes, indeed. Sibelius 7 has the trombones perfectly integrated into the gloriously and impeccably unfolding musical fabric, without the 'spotlighting' of Mahler 3; which I suppose renders it, possibly, the most ingenious application of this superb brass instrument.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I often wind up sitting in front of the bones - they can peel paint off the wall at times, ruin your hearing, and electrify a performance. My favorite T-bone moments:
1. Finale of Brahms 1st symphony
2. Coda of finale of Brahms 2nd symphony
3. Chorale in finale of Brahms 4th symphony
4. Tchaikovsky symphony 6 finale
5. Glazunov symphony 4 finale
6. Shostakovich symphony 5
7. Mahler symphony 3 first movement
8. Rimsky-Korsakov - Russian Easter Overture
9. Grofe - Grand Canyon Suite (esp the "cowboy" theme)


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

mbhaub said:


> I often wind up sitting in front of the bones - they can peel paint off the wall at times, ruin your hearing, and electrify a performance. My favorite T-bone moments:
> 1. Finale of Brahms 1st symphony
> 2. Coda of finale of Brahms 2nd symphony
> 3. Chorale in finale of Brahms 4th symphony
> ...


Brahms was quite partial. 
And I've sat too close to a trombone, and I'm sure that has something to do with my hearing loss!

I haven't listened to Rimsky's Overture for a very long time, so that will be my first port of call tomorrow


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

A single chord at the end of the fifth or sixth variation in the finale of Vaughn Williams' Fifth Symphony, where the trombones explode out of a horn chord like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. It's especially effective in Andre Previn's LSO recording from the '70s.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Dvorak's New World Symphony has some marvelous trombone parts.

Also, Copland's Rodeo and Saint-Saens Baccanale.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

HenryPenfold said:


> ...
> *And I've sat too close to a trombone* , and I'm sure that has something to do with my hearing loss!
> 
> ...


And here I was expecting you to say something like "and I'm sure that has something to do with the dent in the back of my head." Oh well ….

Aren't there some fine trombone licks in Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

SONNET CLV said:


> Aren't there some fine trombone licks in Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony?


All over - especially in the first movement those really loud, bombastic dominant to tonic notes. So important and it takes a trombone with a gutsy sound to get them just right. Then in the fourth movement where the bassoon has that tragic, searching solo which is interrupted by ominous chords with trombones - so effective if done right.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

If we can nominate non-orchestral pieces then try Paul Hindemith's short-ish sonata for trombone and piano (1941) - quite a pithy little work.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

if we can also nominate non classical, then how about that amazing, explosive bone solo in Sinatra's 'I've Got you Under my Skin'.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

HenryPenfold said:


> Where else in classical music is the trombone so indescribably amazing???


It should be mentioned Mozart's Requiem, where the last trump is a trombone, and instead of invoking fear and dread (like the trumpets in Berlioz's requiem), it's actually quite melodious.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Henry Penfold said:

_The tromboning (is there such a word?!), is orgasmic!_

Are you familiar with the trombone glissando in the 'naughty scene' of Shostakovich's _Lady Macbeth_? :lol:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)




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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

*Sir Malcolm Arnold
Tam O'Shanter Overture
1955
*
Drunk trombone.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Art Rock said:


>


Who wrote that Art? good fun.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

mikeh375 said:


> Who wrote that Art? good fun.


Johan de Meij, Dutch composer. Probably the best name for a concerto I've seen.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

While your topic is undoubtedly about orchestral trombone(s), there is a whole genre of trombone ensembles pieces. Here's a great example of a very large trombone choir.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Ernest Bloch's Symphony for Trombone and Orchestra.

Beginning of Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony where the trombones enter after trumpets.

Trombones have to be careful since three of them can cover an orchestra. I heard this one night at a university orchestra concert where they covered everyone in Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Bartok- Miraculous Mandarin - esp the final section...
Nielsen - Sym #4 - listen to
Martinon/ChicagoSO..amazing!!

Prokofiev- Sym #3 - Mvt I....some high tessitura solo work...bass trombone stuff, too.
Kondrashin/CSO; Rozh'sky/USSRSO


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

The brief quote of "Joy to the World, Let Heaven and Nature Sing" and final fade away chord in the third movement of Ives' 4th Symphony. I especially like Ozawa and the BSO recording of this movement. Perfect setup for the mysterious fourth movement.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Vasks said:


> While your topic is undoubtedly about orchestral trombone(s), there is a whole genre of trombone ensembles pieces. Here's a great example of a very large trombone choir.


Good. I was afraid it was going to suck.

Impressive.

Love the Tb banner on the upstage wall.


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## Minor Sixthist (Apr 21, 2017)

> Where else in classical music is the trombone so indescribably amazing???


The most important question there is! Yours is a great list for starters. I'm also in love with the finale section of Tchaikovsky 6. That is an all around great gig for trombonists and tubists. A consistently engaging piece for all the brass.

You really cannot go without this excerpt from the 5th movement of Mahler 2. If this happens to be the first time you hear it I don't think you'll be disappointed. There's hardly anything more divine, to me. I think the memories it holds for me play a part, but still just divine. Have you heard of the Southeast Trombone Symposium? I highly recommend going through their recordings, they get together some of the best principals and otherwise from orchestras around the country and have them play all sorts of excerpts, arrangements, and occasionally new compositions. Check them out.






The beginning of Bruckner 8 movement 4 has a pretty sick trombone/ tuba excerpt, though the rest of this finale admittedly falls short of its epic opening, and ends with this bizarre flimsy chromatic thing which I think must be a pass at some intense sarcasm, but still falls short IMO






No comment needed. Just take this in. This is STS once again, and this is the full NY Phil low brass section - here in NY we do not screw around.  Respighi Fountains of Rome






Ah, Ein Heldenlenben. Lucky for me my school plans on playing this this fall, though I'm not sure what will be changed due to coronavirus. We were supposed to play Rite of Spring in April, so I guess they might put that on instead of the Strauss. I don't know, I'm all for playing both of them, what the hell. But that might be a bit much for one night.






I couldn't include more than five videos, unfortunately, but very importantly: Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Weber, Hindemith, epic brass stuff in the second movement, the Turaundot Scherzo. Don't go away before it basically devolves into jazz and lots of wacky percussion. Also try Copland's Rodeo if you haven't, there's a darn tootin' trombone solo in the first movement, and that's a fun piece all around.

Oh and just to make sure you're also raring (get it?) for the Tbone's slightly cooler, bigger second cousin, and also because I'm still CONSTANTLY asked, "wait, there are tuba concertos??" (mind you, by serious musicians!!!):


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

What can be better than a trombone?
Ten trombones, of course: ten times better!


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Henry Brant - "Orbits" - (I'm not at home, iirc, that's the title) - for 80 trombones, yes, EIGHTY!! organ, etc..it's a pretty cool piece...


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