[Trombone-l] The Duel from “The Empire Strikes Back” for 8 trombones and piano

[Jim Nova]

Thanks Jon!


James Nova
Trombone - Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Brass Area Coordinator and Adjunct Trombone Faculty - Duquesne University
Brass Coach - Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras
jimnova.com




> On Nov 27, 2020, at 1:37 PM, Jon Studer <studer_je at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This is great! 
> 
> On Nov 27, 2020, at 10:07, Jim Nova via Trombone-l <trombone-l at trombonelist.org> wrote:
> 
> The Duel from “The Empire Strikes Back” for 8 trombones and piano
> Music by John Williams
> arr. Karim Elmahmoudi
> 
> Fellow fans of John Williams music frequently ask me if I have a favorite cue that he’s written for Star Wars. It’s really hard for me to choose just one. There are so many great ones. But one of my all time favorites is “The Duel” from “The Empire Strikes Back.” 
> 
> I saw Empire in the theater when it first premiered. I was 6 years old and it made quite the impression on me. It was the first Star Wars movie I had ever seen and I was instantly hooked on John Williams’ music. No surprise that I picked a brass instrument when it came time to do so a few years later in my school music program. 
> 
> “The Duel” is an amazing 4 minute distillation of so much of what I love about the music of Star Wars. For years I’ve thought about arranging this climactic scene. Typically I don’t record other peoples arrangements as I enjoy doing my own versions but in this case, I made an exception.
> 
> Meet my friend Karim Elmahmoudi. He’s a wonderful composer, arranger and trombonist who reached out to me almost 3 years ago to connect about our mutual love of all things trombone, John Williams and especially Star Wars scores. He has sent me original compositions as well as arrangements over the years and I was his guest on an interview series he does. He’s a wonderful spirit and I look forward to the day when we can meet in person after this pandemic is in our collective rear view mirrors.
> 
> Well, this past April, he reached out and very graciously asked if I could record the contra part on his new arrangement of “The Duel” which is scored for 2 alto trombones, 4 tenor trombones, 1 bass trombone, 1 contrabass trombone and piano. He said he knew how busy I am and it was a tall ask. It was like he “felt a great need in the Force” as I had literally been just revisiting the idea of an arrangement of this cue when I got his email. I said to Karim, “This arrangement looks great! I think I want to do the whole thing myself! Problem is you’re gonna have to be patient. I’ve got a ton of other initiatives and projects that I need to do first but I WILL get to this. And I’ll add some SuperNova touches to the arrangement… sound good?”
> 
> So here it finally is! Karim and I both really have a powerful connection and reaction to this cue. It’s got so much in it but the most powerful moment is the Han and Leia theme that happens after the fugue section at the 2:50 mark. I’m actually getting goose bumps just typing this… you’ll hear what I mean.
> 
> Some how this cue captures a lot of what I’ve been feeling during the pandemic: feeling of fighting a seemingly insurmountable foe, the underlying terror of this battle, feeling of mutual struggle by my friends and family, final break through, escape and triumph… all in 4 minutes!
> 
> Last but certainly not least, I wanna give a huge thanks to Constanze Hochwartner for tackling the piano part on this arrangement. It is such a great color adding the piano to my NovaDub trombone choir sound and she sounds absolutely terrific.
> 
> I will be making a video of this so look for that in the coming weeks but I just couldn’t wait to share the recording!
> 
> Enjoy!!
> 
> https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fjimnova%2Fthe-duel-from-the-empire-strikes-back&data=04%7C01%7C%7Ca6a4b1c34b84430a746c08d892ff5083%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637420972555374509%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=H7w1bBaZUL70KJBgJKStZobe%2F524PkL%2FZXw2eZh1Fk0%3D&reserved=0 <https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fjimnova%2Fthe-duel-from-the-empire-strikes-back&data=04%7C01%7C%7Ca6a4b1c34b84430a746c08d892ff5083%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637420972555374509%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=H7w1bBaZUL70KJBgJKStZobe%2F524PkL%2FZXw2eZh1Fk0%3D&reserved=0>
> 
> James Nova
> Trombone - Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
> Brass Area Coordinator and Adjunct Trombone Faculty - Duquesne University
> Brass Coach - Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras
> jimnova.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
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