[Trombone-l] Standard bone quartet repertoire?

[George Carr]

I can offer some additional illumination about Premru's In Memoriam. For
those who don't know the composer's backstory, it's here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Premru

In the early 1990s, Paul Ferguson organized a very fine trombone quartet,
and recruited Ray as the bass trombonist. They eventually settled on the
group name High Anxiety Bones, and Paul tells the backstory of the group in
the liner notes to their one and only CD, "Too Scared to Play," which are
online here:
https://www.dramonline.org/albums/high-anxiety-bones/notes
If you haven't heard that CD, it's definitely worth a listen. Paul himself
is still senior faculty at CWRU in Cleveland, but Ed Zadrozny has retired,
and the other members have since died, so there won't be any more music
from that group.

But I heard some additional scuttlebutt from Paul recently. During the
group's active period 1991-1995, Paul repeatedly suggested that they play
Premru's "In Memoriam" but Ray refused, explaining that he considered the
work "juvenilia" and would rather play his mature work. (And he was
persuasive: the group recorded Ray's "Tissington Variations" and performed
other works in concert.) So, Paul ended up adding "In Memoriam" to the CD
after Ray's death, as a tribute to him, but the group never played it, not
even in rehearsal.

In any case, I thought you all might appreciate a little background story
about the composer's feelings; I personally find "In Memoriam" to be moving
and effective, and I feel no shame in continuing to promote it as part of
the core 'canon' repertoire for trombone quartet. And I think it remains
generally popular, although such things are harder to track these days,
where sheet music sales only reflect a sliver of the attention given to a
piece.

Best to all,
George

On Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 10:17 PM Raymond Horton <horton.raymond at gmail.com>
wrote:

> That’s a very fine list, George!
>
> Raymond Horton
> Composer/Arranger
> Minister of Music,
> Edwardsville (IN) United Methodist Church
> Retired Bass Trombonist,
> Louisville Orchestra, 1970-2016
>
> > On Oct 31, 2022, at 2:20 PM, George Carr via Trombone-l <
> trombone-l at trombonelist.org> wrote:
> >
> > I wouldn't put too much trust in that Clarinet archive list. Some of
> those
> > quartets are certainly core repertoire, but some are minor works that the
> > compiler just threw in to increase the inventory list.
> >
> > Here's a list of 25 trombone quartets I'd personally nominate for the
> > 'standard' repertoire:
> > Bach: Fugue in G minor (transcr. R Sauer)
> > Mozart: Die Holle Rach (from Die Zauberflote) (1791) (transcr. V
> Kagarice)
> > Haydn: Achieved is the Glorious Work, from The Creation (1798) (transcr.
> D
> > Miller)
> > Beethoven: Drei Equali (1812) (transcr. R King)
> > Schubert: Andante con moto from string quartet #4 (1813) (transcr. E
> Miller)
> > Tchaikovsky: Andante Cantabile, from Op. 11 (1871) (transcr. E Williams)
> > Saint-Saëns: Adagio from Symphony #3 (1886) (transcr. K Murley)
> > Verdi: Ave Maria from Otello (1887) (transcr. S Hartman)
> > Grieg: Elegy, Op. 47/7 (1888) (transcr. E Miller)
> > Bruckner: Three Motets (1892) (transcr. R Sauer)
> > Webern: Langsamer Satz (1905) (transcr. M Hetzler)
> > Hindemith: Morgenmusik (1932)
> > Poulenc: Four Little Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi (1948) (transcr. C
> > Henning)
> > Serocki: Suita na 4 puzony (1953)
> > Hornoff: Suite fur vier posaunen (1953)
> > Bassett: Quartet for Trombones (1954)
> > McCarty: Recitative and Fugue (1960)
> > Charpentier: Quatuor de Forme Liturgique (1960)
> > Dubois: Quatuor (1962)
> > Bozza: Trois Pieces (1964)
> > Nelhybel: 6 Pieces for Trombones (1966)
> > Premru: In Memoriam (1967)
> > Frackenpohl: Trombone Quartet (1968)
> > Orr: Five Sketches for Four Trombones (1970)
> > Pederson: Spanish Waterwheel (1971)
> >
> > If you're having trouble tracking down any of the above sheet music from
> > your preferred source, email me directly as I may be able to help. And of
> > course, I'd love to hear about more recent works that people would add to
> > this list...
> >
> > George
> > Cleveland, Ohio
> >
> >> On Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 1:25 PM Jeff Albert via Trombone-l <
> >> trombone-l at trombonelist.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> I love the trombone transcriptions of the Bruckner Motets. My college
> >> quartet did a lot of Bach, and achieved was definitely one of them. It
> has
> >> been a long time and much of the rep has left my brain.
> >>
> >>
> >> *----*
> >> *Jeff Albert *
> >> +1 (504) 315-5167
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 11:40 AM Peter Soukup via Trombone-l <
> >> trombone-l at trombonelist.org> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hello,
> >>>
> >>> Having just joined a new bone 4tet, but they’re rehearsing mostly pop
> >>> tunes, what would you recommend as standard quartet repertoire?
> >>>
> >>> As in maybe “Achieved is the Glorious Work”?
> >>>
> >>> What say you, Trombone List?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for your thoughts.
> >>>
> >>> Pete Soukup_______________________________________________
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> >>> Trombone-l at trombonelist.org
> >>> http://trombonelist.org/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l_trombonelist.org
> >>>
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