Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov - Trombone Concerto
Concerto, for Trombone & Military band in B-flat major
Further Information
As inspector of Russia's naval bands, Rimsky-Korsakov decided to learn as much as he could about wind instruments. By his own account, his attempts to play them were deafening, but he also composed small concertos for three key band instruments: trombone, oboe, and clarinet. The trombone concerto came first and is the most militaristic of the three. Yet there's also something of what Americans would recognize as the Sunday-afternoon bandstand about it, with its manner of expression derived in part from Italian opera arias. The first movement, Allegro vivace, contrasts a fast fanfare with a broad, lyrical motif that unfortunately does little more than repeat a short phrase several times, up or down a couple of steps. Rimsky-Korsakov dispatches this material, complete with recapitulation but no development, in little more than two minutes, moving along to the more extended Andante cantabile. Here the composer makes up for his lack of inspiration in the first movement's second subject with an ardent, singing line for the soloist, plus a rhapsodic cadenza. This leads straight into the final Allegro, which occupies nearly half the concerto's duration. This is a happy march handed back and forth from band to trombone. Still a two-step, the music sidles into a contrasting, low-key section but soon resumes its full marching stride. The trombone takes time for another cadenza and then is overtaken by the orchestra for a short march through the coda.
