Joseph Alessi plays Rouse - Trombone Concerto (1991) [w/ score]

Christopher Rouse (1949 - 2019) - Trombone Concerto (1991)
performed by Joseph Alessi (trombone) with The Colorado Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop www.amazon.com/Rouse-Trombone...
00:00 Intro
00:15 Movement I
09:47 cadenza
11:23 Movement II
17:54 cadenza
18:28 Movement III
The concerto is organized as two adagios flanking a central scherzo. The first movement begins and ends with sparse, ritualized music of an understatedly rhetorical nature, with its centerpiece being an expanding passacaglia featuring the soloist accompanied by the strings of the orchestra. The middle movement alternates scurrying music (which introduces the orchestral brass section for the first time in the score) with a more dancelike central part-the music ultimately builds to a loud, almost apocalyptic climax, and this gives way to the elegiac finale, primarily a funeral march, in which the Bernstein quote leads the music back to the hieratic material which began the piece. Each of the movements is connected by a brief cadenza for the solo trombone.
Composer's Notes:
I completed my Trombone Concerto in Fairport, New York on April 5, 1991. The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its principal trombonist, Joseph Alessi, in honor of the orchestra's sesquicentennial. This was the first in a series of back-to-back concerti I composed for various instruments, later ones being composed for violin, violoncello, and flute.
It occurred to me as I was planning the piece that composers, when writing concerti for brass instruments, have often elected to give such works something of a light character. As a result, I set out to compose a work which, while requiring substantial virtuosity from the soloist, would contain music of a primarily somber and introspective character, one whose tone was serious in tone. I was aided in this by my wish to dedicate a score to the memory of Leonard Bernstein, and it seemed natural to ally such a desire to the realization of a work for the New York Philharmonic, the orchestra which Mr. Bernstein so loved and which he directed for many years.
I got the opportunity to know Mr. Bernstein only in the summer of 1989, although I had admired his work as composer, conductor, and musical evangelist for most of my life. He remains for me a figure of inestimable importance in the history of music, one whose passion for and commitment to his art was unsurpassable, and his sudden death in October 1990 robbed us all of an almost superhuman musical giant. The third movement of my concerto is, in particular, a memorial to Mr. Bernstein, and the quotation of what I call the "Credo" theme from his Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish") a gesture of the most profound affection and gratitude, mingled with sorrow at his passing.
This work was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

[@rodterrell304]

This is truly a brilliant piece of music and a brilliant performance. I could actually sit the 30 mins and listen through the whole piece and be totally captivated. Great composer and great performance. Thank you so much for this post.

[@Baribrotzer]

A fine piece of music.
Mr. Rouse "gets" the trombone, understands what it's really capable of, in a way you don't often hear. In particular, it has the vocal quality of an operatic baritone mourning with raw pain in the first movement, raging at Death in the second, and mourning with more acceptance of finality in the third. Really, the only negative criticism I'd offer is that some passages in the middle of the second movement sound a little too much like "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Also, the final theme sounds a bit "Broadway" - but it's a Bernstein quote, so of course it does.

[@MrInterestingthings]

Both Melissa Wagner and Chris Rouse got Pulitzers for their Alessi Trombone concerti . The rollickingfrenziedScherzo was set up well by the 1st mov.and its return make sense.I have the score for Wagner's and I 'm studying the orchestration for this now . The opening is really foreboding interesting dark,sinister music after 6 minutes all the weaving voices really set a suspenseful scene !

[@isaiahcruz3431]

Thanks you for uploading this :)

[@gilevansinsideout]

This is awesome

[@AdamMusicWorld]

I agree!

[@ectostream]

Wow this is fire.

[@Sujkhgfrwqqnvf]

17:53 this argument of 4 ducks in the park over a piece of bread after such an apocalypse just before seems so comical and surreal, and that the solo duck is the one who wins by only protesting a little longer before returning to the water HAHAHAHAHAHA

[@brandonyoungkrantz8279]

I never thought I would see such negativity towards this piece in the comments. The possibilities of what can be done with classical music are endless, yet when a composition as thought provoking and unique as this is put out, it's ridiculed. Do people never tire of the endless monotony that is the majority of well known classical compositions? None of the three movements are continuously harshly dissonant, and there are many beautiful passages throughout the entire concerto. To say that the entire piece is "terrible" is such a limiting and uninformed point of view.

[@AdamMusicWorld]

I'm with ya, man! the haters are ridiculous but it doesn't change the fact that rouse was a great composer. my kind of ear candy!

[@maxwellkowal3065]

Cool to listen to once, never want to listen to again. Sorry, this music just doesn't do it for me 🤷‍♂️

[@AdamMusicWorld]

ok

[@maxwellkowal3065]

@@AdamMusicWorld It's compositional merit is great, don't get me wrong, it's just I tire of hearing Trombone used in this manner.

[@maxwellkowal3065]

@@AdamMusicWorld Hang on a second, little did I know I would actually meet you in person at ITF